Our Life In The Context of Five Anuvrat And Anekantwad

SR No.: 034274
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Jaibhikkhu Sahitya Trust
Total Pages: 11
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

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of health and physical fitness. Nature cure is the first step in that direction. Even Ayurved acknowledges its importance. In the Jain religion, there is a common practice of fasting for days together at a time. Even in the West, patients are made to fast for 90 days at a stretch to cure them of certain diseases. Dr. Kerington opines, "Fasting gives inner strength to the heart. If one wants the heart to be strong, the best way to achieve it is by fasting, for, on the one hand it gives rest to the heart and on the other it purifies the blood without any medicines." Further, fasting also reduces the extent of evil designs, desires and inclinations.
Jain religion also glorifies the cult of vegetarianism. These days vegetarianism is spreading fast in the West and it has been adopted by many artists, actors and the likes on a large scale. Vegetarianism is the corner stone of the Jain religion.
Today when heart diseases, blood pressure and such other dreaded things are fast spreading, vegetarianism can be of great help. It is necessary to examine dietetics afresh from the scientific point of view. In the ancient times it was based on spiritual thinking, now it is based on experiments as is the case with all natural sciences.
Experiments can be repeated and adopted by each other, while experiences cannot be. Today in the US, the doctors advise taking food before sunset. This has been mentioned in our ancient scriptures. The movement of the atom, the origin of language, communication through the oral media - all were considered then. The system and practice of meditation and contemplation of the ancient
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times could cure physical and mental diseases of man. The experiments based on "Prekshadhyan' are the best examples of it. For peace to the mind 'Pachhakhan', for high level meditation 'Kausagga', for introspection "Pratikramana', for inner purification Paryushan', for bravery and gallantry the feeling of forbearance - it is only when these are practiced in the world that we can get a vibrant man tomorrow. When Henry Thoreau, the American thinker, held a man by his hand, the latter started crying. Because the touch of the hand was felt by the other as a piece of dead wood, lifeless.
The Jain religion prescribes four things to attain superior status of being and to be full of vitality - charity, chastity, penance and love.
* T CT-1" An ancient rule says, 'Oh man ! How difficult it is to be human !' Man is not born, he is to be awakened from within. After the birth of a child, the next birth is that of man.
The anti-apartheid American leader Martin Luther King dreamt of the day when man is known not by the colour of his skin but by the strength of his character. To quote him verbatim, 'Not by the colour of the skin, but by the content of his character.' The Jain religion gives no cognisance to the colour or the creed of man.
"न वि मुंडिएण समणो न ओंकरेण पणो ।
न मणि रणवासेणं, कसयीरेण ण तावसो ।।" Man is known not by the accident of his birth but by his actions and character. A man does not become a Brahmin merely by recitation of 'OMKAR', nor does he become a
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