Aparigraha the Humane Solution

Author(s): Kamla Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 77

APARIGRAHA - THE HUMANE SOLUTION
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In another Sūtra Pātañjali sets out a clear picture of the spiritual state one is in after one establishes oneself in aparigraha. He says: 'As soon as the yogin is established in abstinence from acceptance of gifts, he gets a thorough illumination upon the conditions of birth’. Vyāsa points out that the yogin who has established himself in aparigraha would get a clear picture of 'who he was' and 'what he would become'. And his desire to know all this, would be fulfilled only after establishing himself in this abstention. Though it is, not easy so to accept this on logical grounds, it cannot simply be rejected as mere imagination since it is incapable of being tested. The climax of yogic practices may bring about extraordinary super human powers.
In another Sūtra, Pātañjali mentions the technique of cultivating the opposites (pratipaksa bhāvanā) for strengthening the abstention of aparigraha.
There is, however, one point that needs notice in the context of Patañjali's expositions of aparigraha. That is the cultivation of this abstention means a gradual increase in acquisition of yogic powers and adaptation to unusual negative circumstances. This may not have much relevance to the social context for which this moral principle is being studied but shows emphatically that for spiritual progress 'aparigraha' is a great step. The Jaina View
Aparigraha is the fifth vow of the monks and nuns in the Jaina code of ethics (mahāvrata); likewise it occupies the fifth place in the code of ethics for the householders or laity (aņuvrata). Its importance can be noticed by the very fact that it occupies a place in the four-fold scheme of pre-Mahāvīra ethics, i.e. in the ethics of Pārsvānātha (the twenty third Tirthankara of the Jainas) where it is called cāturyāma dharma. The vow of celibacy was introduced by Mahāvīra in his five fold scheme. In the Jaina scriptures (agamas) it is technically called 'bahiddhādána veramanam'', 'Bahiddha' in Prakrta means external,
1. Sthānānga 4,1,266.