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184 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
the internal foes such as the senses, wrath, pride, delusion and avarice. Victory over one's own self-full control over oneself-is possible only by this process. Thus it is extremely difficult to conquer one's own self. This internal victory is the greatest victory that one can achieve, far greater than vanquishing a million warriors on the field of battle. In a nutshell, once the self is controlled, everything else comes under your sway, of its own accord.
In this way, this reply of Nami is an excellent piece of teaching, the very essence of all teachings of the ancient traditions of India imbibed through ages. It should be noticed that this is spoken by king Nami, the counterpart of the celebrated Janaka, on the eve of retirement from worldly life. Naturally, therefore, in reply to Indra's test regarding victory over others, he stresses upon the ideal of a monk, viz., complete self-control, which is the most difficult to secure. In the first verse Nami points out that he has left off all worldly fights and has decided to be fully self-controlled. In the second one he stresses upon the futility of worldly victories and pronounces his decision to turn to the internal world for further victory, which is the only way to real peace and bliss. In the last verse he elucidates what actually he has to do for complete success in this greatest enterprise and proclaims again, in other words, what he did at the outset of his reply.
Thus these three verses appear to the present writer to form a homogeneous unit, quite constructible and intelligible, imbibing one and the same ideal.
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