________________
240
penance, let him do it on an empty stomach. Why do they have to eat? If without food life cannot go on let them eat some dried thing. Why should they have milk and butter? Acharya replied saying, “Without grease in the food, life does not go on. Even if life goes on, the mind, the intellect and the memory do not work. Strength does not add on. Those who do not want to live the life of a learned man do not need to eat food with a certain amount of fat. Bhagvan Mahavir used to perform a lot of penance. In those days of penance, his body had dried up. Life had become monotonous. Writers say that after Bhagvan Mahavir started eating well, there was radiance in his body.
The reason for radiance and intellectual development
The radiance of the body and intellectual development is closely related to food. Acharya presented many scientific facts in his essay. He wrote: “In the areas where the food is sticky with oil content, people live a long life. In the areas where the food is rich, people live very long. Those people who eat moist and tasty food live very long. Those who do not get such food face untimely death."
Acharya Mahaprajna
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
