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meals is being reduced, from the simple giving up of special kinds of food, or of eating at night, and from partial fasts, and fasts of a whole day or several days, upto fasts of more than a month's duration. There are, moreover, Pratyākhyānas by which one binds oneself to practise certain ascetical postures, to meditate for a fixed time, to devote a certain time to the regular study of religious works, or to the service of co-religionists etc. Several forms of austerity are at the same time recommended as strengthening and hardening one's bodily and mental powers, as e.g. the Āyambila Fast, a kind of bread-and-water diet (excluding all milk, fat, sugar, spices etc.) and also certain Asanas, or ascetic postures indeed do, if observed within certain limits. Of quite a different character is the austerity called Sallekhanā, or Samlekhanā, by which the individual solemnly resigns all food for the rest of his life, under formalities dealt with in the Āvasyaka Sútra, the whole last chapter of which is devoted exclusively to the subject "Pratyākhyānas”. This form of austerity is indeed being recurred to be very pious people at the time when they feel death positively approaching.
Thus it is true that under certain circumstances, Jainism does allow the vow of starvation. But it would be wrong to infer therefor that its ideal is the extinguishment of personal activity at all. Just the contrary is true. Jainism promulgates self-realization as the aim of individual life: a self-realization which, at the same time, also forms the basis of the well-being of all that lives. The achievement of this self-realization presupposes, on the part of the individual, the highest exertion of all bodily and mental powers, a constant wakefulness, and an iron will, which precisely obeys the behests of intellect, bravely resisting all kinds of internal and external temptations. More practically speaking, it presupposes a reasonable kind of self-preservation in the narrowest limits possible. There is a parable, according to which six hungry
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| SR No. | 001653 |
| Book Title | Heritage of the Last Arhat Mahavira |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Charlotte Krause |
| Publisher | Parshwanath Vidyapith |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 32 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Religion, & Devotion |
| File Size | 3 MB |