________________
CHAPTER SEVEN
267
against the latter-that is speaking the a-sat (that is, speaking what is reprehensible).
According to the first meaning there is a case of speaking the a-sat when a person who, while having money, says to his creditor that he has got no money or who, while not denying that he has got money, offers such an account of it that the creditor is unable to realize his dues. According to the second meaning there is a case of speaking the a-sat when referring to a person who is illiterate or simpleton one says that he is illiterate or simpleton, a statement which, though true, has been made with a view to slighting this person and so as to cause him distress.
As a result of this understanding of untruthfulness the following duties turn out to be incumbent on one who accepts the vrata of truthfulness :
(1) To renounce all acts of negligence.
(2) To maintain uniformity in the activity of manas, speech and body.
(3) Not to speak, think or practise-out of ill-feeling-what is true but what proves disagreeable to another person. 9.
The Nature of Theft :
To take what has not been given—that is theft. 10.
A thing which is under the ownership of someone elsebe it as lowly in worth as a blade of hay--to take it away stealthily without the permission of its owner—that is theft.
As a result of this definition of theft the following duties turn out to be incumbent on one who accepts the vrata of nontheft.
(1) To renounce the tendency to greediness towards any and every thing.
(2) So long as one is not rid of a greedy habit, to earn legitimately and through one's own endeavour the thing that is the object of one's greed-at the same time not to even think of taking without permission a thing of this description belonging to
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org