________________
56
NONVIOLENCE
trees and vegetables. Internal attachment refers to the overpowering passions of anger, arrogance, conceit, vanity, avarice and selfishness. In order to successfully limit one's acquisitive desire for external objects, one must try to curb, as far as possible, one's undue atachment to worldly things or objects by cultivating the nobler virtues of the heart like self-controi, self-restraint, contentment, mercy, piety, generosity, straightforwardness, purity in thought, word and deed and by overcoming passions such as unlimited lust, uncontrolled avarice, indulgence in falsehood, dishonesty, intolerance, etc.
Modern civilization tempts worldly persons by its endless material comforts and increases their wants in all directions. We forgot that material prosperity alone is not the end of human existence. Our attachment to external objects is solely dependent upon our cherished uncontrolled desire to acquire and hoard external objects. This acquisitive instinct affects society at large, leading to conflicts of interest between men, communities and nations, each struggling to get the upper hand by fair or foul means, over others. Thus, one finds today that the uncurbed selfish instinct has given rise to ideological conflicts in the social, economic and political fields based upon diffrent concepts such as capitalism, and communism. The vow of limiting one's possessions called “Parimita Parigraha' enables a person to voluntarily curb one's base instincts for owning property and possessions. By this means the disastrous consequences arising from the absence of a ceiling or restraint of the innate desire to acquire and hoard wealth unlimitedly are avoided,
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
