Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 381

The Final Commitment
The second word used for aparigraha is ākiñcanya, total stripping, a letting go, poverty. This word goes right to the very core of the state of asceticism, a stripping off of externals being only an outward sign of an interior stripping.62
The wording of the vow expresses complete renunciation of all forms of attachment, whether the object possessed is of great value or of little, living or inert.63 Attachment under one guise or another, in varying degrees and according to circumstances, is always aroused by the passions. Now the passions are engendered by the senses and, since there is not realm of life to which aparigraha does not apply, the bhāvanās will clearly relate to the five senses. We have here a question of maintaining an attitude of detachment towards all impressions received through the sense-organs, whether pleasant or unpleasant, soothing or irritating. Whatever the impression may be, one must be on one's guard not to allow oneself to be swayed by rāga, excessive pleasure, or by dveṣa, aversion bordering on hatred.64 The bhāvanās guide one towards detachment from impressions recorded by the body, but it is necessary to go further and renounce any attachment whatever to the body itself.65
62
However, we may well say, the sadhvis lead the life of a human being in community, in contact with society; they are, no doubt, separated off to a certain extent by their commitment, but how is such absolute renunciation, even that of the body itself, to be reconciled with this human community life with its needs, even if they be
353
Cf. Adh IV, 104 and comm.
63 The 5th vow, as regards its subject-matter, is similar to the 3rd; cf. AS II, 15 (v); DS IV, 15; cf. also ADh IV, 104-148; DS VI, 17-21; MA I, 9; V, 96; US XIX, 29; Ysas I, 24.
64 manojña-amanojña-indriyaviṣaya-rāga-dveṣa-varjanāni-pañca. TS VII, 8; cf. ADH IV, 148; YSas I, 32-33.
65 Cf. DS VI, 21; PSa III, 24; III, 39 (P 275); one sees here the link with kayotsarga.