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A vow (vrata) is observed in two ways, which in the absence of appropriate English names, may be called the subjective way and the objective way, or the external and the internal way. In the atichāras it is the subjective or internal way that is broken, while in the external way the vow is not broken, and therefore it is called a partial transgression of the vow.
We are now considering persons in the 5th or desha-virati stage of development, and in all these vows the chief idea is partial seli-control (desha virati). And because there is the other factor of samyaktva, there is also love (daya) as a factor in all these vows. In the following things which are atichāras both these factors (self-control and love) are absent.
1. Bandha; means fastening with a rope or chain, and it can be either a human being or an animal. It can be done merely for cruelty, or it can be done for some other purpose. The person who has taken the first vow never fastens a being up for cruelty--if he did it would be breaking the vow. When it is done with some other object in view than mere cruelty or torture, then it can either be for a necessary purpose, or without a necessary reason. If it is done without a necessary reason, then it is an atichāra; if it is done through anger, or greed, or in any state of mind that is thoughtless of the life of
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