Jaina Acara Siddhanta aur Svarupa

SR No.: 006747
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Devendramuni
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 322
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 278

XXVI
THE LOFTY IDEAL OF POSSESSIONLESSNESS
Things are limited but desires are limitless like the sky which cannot be measured. It is the only substance which pervades the world and beyond. The thirst for objects is never quenched. One longing leads to another and another to still another. This chain is never-ending. Mahāvira rightly observed that if you were given mountains of silver and gold, your longing for still more will not cease.
The basic needs like food, clothing and housing are limited but the desire for amassing wealth is not. The craze for augmenting wealth keeps you discontented. It is because the vicious circle of desires has no exit. You cannot use all things that you have garnered at once and at the same time. You may have superfine fifty watches, but your wrist can hold only one at a time. Should you double or treble them for use, they will wonder if one of your screws is loose. You may have ten well-furnished houses, but at no time can you stay in more than one. A hungry man will be satisfied if he gets food and drink. Immediately after if he is offered sweets, he will not look at them. The belly can be filled, but not the box.
Umāsvāti has defined acquisitiveness as spiritual ignorance or delusion. Lord Mahāvira has rightly observed that the most binding fetter for the soul is possessiveness. It obstructs spiritual growth and gives rise to violence. Jainism says that acquisitiveness binds man fast. The more the attachment, the greater the desire for hoarding.
Matter is inert, transient and changeful. By itself it is neither merit nor demerit. The scriptures do not say that wealth and property are possessiveness. What makes you possessive is your being attached to persons and things. A destitute beggar has little to eat, is clad in rags and his cottage has fallen into tatters. All the same he desires to be an emperor. Do not take him to be free from the taint of possessiveness.
Upāsakadasārgasūtra talks of Ananda who had taken twelve vows from Mahavira. He limited his desires which minimised his possessions. It is desire alone which gathers things. In the state of desirelessness there is no possessiveness. This is, however, an ideal. What can and should be done is to limit desires as far as one can and the only way to do it is to practise detachment without which renunciation of the world is simply unthinkable.