Mahavira and his Teaching

SR No.: 008019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 509
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Biography, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 12 MB

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A. S. GOPANI
cannot be tempered with. Lofty aims are the wings of the soul aiding it to soar higher and higher. The wings, therefore, should never be clipped even partially. To those who argue that in a society which is permeated in and out with vice and wickedness, vile and violence, it is well nigh impossible to stick to truth, and therefore the society should be so organized as to facilitate the truth to prevail, it can be with equal force advanced that a society is made up of individuals and if these improve, the society is automatically improved. The principle of non-stealing is but another name of honesty. In Uttarajjhayana, the Lord had said "To abstain from taking what is not given, even so much as a tooth-pick etc. and to accept only such alms as are free from all faults; this is a difficult vow (to observe)". If the conditions of right living are to be sustained, one has to see that one does not so enjoy the rights as to deprive the others of them. What is a right in regard to oneself is a duty in regard to others. Rights and duties are interdependent. They go hand in hand. If one adheres to this principle strictly and with sincerity, there will be no problem of plunder, or loot, or robbing. The fourth vow is named continence, another form of it being self-control which, like the pruning of a shrub, assist the beauty and flowering of the soul. One must grow in self-control. One must not suppress the instincts but sublimate them and this is what exactly results from the observance of celibacy or continence. Sublimation is the organic device of attaining self-control without disintegrating personality. It renders possible the all-round organisation of self which is the mainstay of morality. Celibacy directs the flow of energies into specific channels and helps the person in continually recreating the moral order in which he has his being and in contributing immensely to the moral life of the society of which he is a part. Aparigraha is the last of the five vows. It means absence of acquisitiveness, or a state of possessionlessness or stoicism. It enjoins on a person to exercise restrain on accumulation. An ideally religious man is totally devoid of a lust for hoarding. His wants are bare and his needs are few. This will save him from getting lost in the pursuit of material gain.
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