Shraman Bhagvana Mahavira Part 2 Vibhag 1

SR No.: 008002
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker
Publisher: Parimal Publication
Publication Year: 1989
Total Pages: 623
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English, Biography, History, & Religion
File Size: 14 MB

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from that day. He becomes indifferent to weal or woe to life or death. He renounces his wealth. He abandons his home, his family, his country, covered with a miserable cloth with the beggar's bowl in his hand. He wanders in strange, unfamiliar places to beg bis daily bread. He must never pass more than a single night in the same place, except in cases of great necessity. A cloth covering his month guards him from killing invisible beings in the air he breathes. For this reason, he must filter the water he drinks, and sweep the place he reposes in. He must abstain from bath or the toilette, He must give the minutest attention to his least movement. He must measure his speech, and master his sentiments in order to prevent murderous acts in himself or in those that approach him. Sweet and gentle to tbe animal world, he respects the life in the plants, and in malter,- for they contain souls-sacred for him.
But above all, it is during the rainy season that the Jain monk devotes himself to practices both internal, and external which are exacted from him by a most rigorous asceticism. He undergoes a constant discipline. He purifies his body and soul. Humble, und devoted before the master of his choice, he studies the holy works and meditates upon the words of the Prophet. He reads the lives of the Tirthankaras. He ponders over the grief and misery prevailing in the world. He submits his conscier.ce to a most searching examination. If he has committed a fault, he freely confesses it, and manifests a most sincere repen. tance. He imposes upon himself a long fast, inflicte upon him self the most cruel pains, even mutilates himself at times, and subjects bimself to the most violent, and painful exercises. The sage who has the True Knowledge, knows that he has the right to basten his Emancipation by permitting his end through want of food. Suicide by simple inanition is the death par excellence, of saints.
Such an asceticism demands a force of will very rare amo. ngst men, Such a System of Ethics can be applied only to a very small circle. Hence these five great vows are not expected