Way of Life Part 3

SR No.: 006515
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana
Publication Year: 1986
Total Pages: 348
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Religion
File Size: 18 MB

Page 181

DISCOURSE 61
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bited food. He may even think : "This is a very serious vice: I should not eat prohibited food". He may take a vow not to eat prohibited food for some time; but after that period is over, he may again begin eating such food. The defect cannot be discarded by merely taking such a vow. He may refrain from eating such food for sometime; but will he discard the habit completely ? Will the propensity to eat such food undergo a change? One must discard inauspicious propensities in order to discard and destroy inauspicious actions. Therefore, your fascination for the prohibited food must be totally discarded. (1) You should not associate with a man who eats prohibited
food. (2) You must take a vow before a noble spiritual head that
you will not eat such food. (3) You should not go to a place where people are eating
such food. (4) You should not listen to any commendation of prohibited
food. (5) You should not be present in a place where people are
eating prohibited food such as meat.
You must strictly observe these principles until you develop contempt and abhorrence for prohibited food like meat. Even those who were not eating it began eating it by not observing these principles. They develop friendship with those who eat prohibited food; for some time they may not eat that food; but they begin eating such food on account of the entreaties and insistence of friends. Why do the children born in families in which people do not eat such food, begin eating such food after going to colleges and after having stayed in hostels ? Such a thing happens because they fall into the company of those who éat such food; and the result is that even those who are pure become polluted by such a company.
The people whose conduct and habits are impure and ignoble have begun to jeer at wholesome habits and conduct. They have begun to condemn purity in respect of conduct and habits;