________________
96
APARIGRAHA - THE HUMANE SOLUTION
There is however, one thing that the majority of people in the society can do relatively easily, and that is to develop a spirit of appreciation for those who practice aparigraha or iccha-parimāṇa. If they want to be extravagant they should be extravagant in their spirit of appreciation for them. To like aparigrahis would be more effective than to 'despise parigrahis'. This would indeed set the ball rolling. It may be said that the voice of conscience is the ultimate answer. This may work at the individual level but could it work at the social level? This is a difficult question to answer. Another pertinent question is: how will aparigraha or icca-parimana deal with the human curiosity to know more and more in the world of science and technology and its progress, since the craze for the new is not new to human nature and human civilization.
This much, however, is certain. A lame or a wounded society of lost and bewildered people will always need the crutches or healing touch of an ethical principle like aparigraha or icchā-parimāṇa.
Jain Education International
"There are voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter the world'.
-Emerson
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
