Agam 24 Chhed 01 Nishith Sutra Part 01 Sthanakvasi

Author(s): Amarmuni, Kanhaiyalal Maharaj
Publisher: Amar Publications

Page 17

although logically untenable and morally indefensible, efforts bave been made to interpret that ahimsā (non-violence) may be compromised with the situations which demand flexibility.
It it enough to observe the ethical norms like truth and nonviolence in life; they are necessary upto a certain extent just to cause the emergence and development of auspicious Karman, just as bad ones result in inauspicious Karman. They are all to be stopped ie. there should be cessation of all activity. Possessiveness (Parigraha) is the very root of sin and non-violence Hence, the emphasis on non-possessiveness (aparigraha). Jainas have laid down the first condition for a spiritual aspirant or a saint that he should renounce all worldly possessions, including the barest necessaries to cover himself. His whole life right until the last m ment of existence is devoted to the spiritual refinement, self-culture and self-realisation. This is religious experience. Religion is something which our entire self is, feels and acts. It is the concurrent activity of faith, knowledge and conduct. It satisfies the logical demand for subsisting certainty and moral desire for perfection. In the life of Mahāvīra and Buddha and several saints, ācāryas etc. holiness and learnings, purity of soul and deep understanding are fused into a blissful harmony. The chief liberating factor is spiritual wisdom. “An austere life turns knowledge into wisdom, a pundit into a prophet.”
During the period of Sadhanā the saint has to take care of health, so that he can face the toughest ordeal, stress and strain of body and mind. Absolute rejection of requirements (sādhana) may culminate in the nullification of spiritual life (Sadhanā). Hence an imperative need of physical as well as spiritual upkeeping i.e. maintenance of physical fitness and mental equipoise The saint is spaied from collecting the necessaries to acquire food like the householders, since that would entail that he (the saint) would gợadually turn himsclf into a gļhastha. Hence the saint
1. Daśavaikālika, VI. 11. 2. S Radhakrishnan-Eastern
Thought, 24.
Religions
and
Western