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Self Control: The Vital Aspect of Ascetic Life : 43
Nature of mind The Jaina canonical text Ācārānga-sūtra says 'the mind of man is fickle. Man wants to fulfill all his desires, which is as impossible as filling a sieve with water.16 It is difficult to remove evil thoughts from the mind. Throwing light on the working of human mind in Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, it is said that the mind is that fierce, unruly and dreadful horse which suns hither and thither in all directions. 17 Just as monkey cannot remain still even for single moment, so also the mind cannot remain free form evil thoughts for a single moment. 18 In Gītā, Arjuna says to lord Krsna, the human mind is wavering by nature. It is very strong, powerful and energetic. To subdue the mind is hard nut to crack, an extremely difficult task like putting the wind under check.19 Hence it is fact that mịnd obstructs the achievement of ultimate goal- salvation but it should be considered that only fickleness is not the nature of mind. Mind has two faces, one is activated or unstable and other is stable. As the wavering mind obstruct liberation, in the same way stable or concentrated mind leads a man to the salvation.
Mind: Cause of Bondage and Liberation Bondage and liberation both are opposite to each other but their root cause is one and that is mind. Acārānga states "aŭega citte khalu ayam purise” 20 means mind has various forms. Mind has that form which is full of attachment and aversion and cause of bondage. On the other hand the same mind has also that form which has purity of equanimity and causes liberation. The same text also states, What is the cause of influx is the cause of efflux. 21 Here influx means inflow of karma and efflux means shading of karma. So cause of influx means cause of karmic bondage and cause of efflux means cause of karmic dissociation. Thus that, which is the cause of bondage, is also the cause of liberation. One who dedicates ones mind to worldly allurement and become detached from the passions attains liberation.22 Thus, mental self-control is
| SR No. | 525080 |
| Book Title | Sramana 2012 04 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Shreeprakash Pandey, Ashokkumar Singh |
| Publisher | Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi |
| Publication Year | 2012 |
| Total Pages | 72 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Classification | Magazine, India_Sramana, & India |
| File Size | 7 MB |