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Bhagwan Mahavir ]
[ 275
'staying in the Dharma-Shala of the weaver. In the first place, the weaver was a great devotee of the Lord. Secondly, that place was quiet, secluded and far removed from the public haunt and, therefore, fit for meditation. And thirdly, the Lord did not distinguish between the high and the low, between the touchable and the untouchable, because he was a philanthropist. For him that man was low whose thoughts were low, whose feelings were low, and whose heart was impure. On the contrary, he regarded that man to be the highest, who, though of a low birth, possessed high thoughts and noble feelings. According to him a man, who possessed a pure heart, could turn the most unholy into holy men and the degraded into high personages, simply by touching them. There is no need of learning, knowledge, intelligence and strength, or of any particular time and place, or aptitude for practising right conduct. Untouchability is the greatest blot on humanity. To regard a man untouchable or to treat him as such is to insult humanity. Purity does not consist in not touching the sinners, but in keeping aloof from "sins. To think oneself untouchable or sinner simply by touching an untouchable man or a sinner is to disrepute religion and to corrupt its high ideals. Religion does not bar us from staying any where, but it bars us from following a wrong path from oppressing others in order to gain our selfish ends and from being immoral. The word 'immoral' has a wide sense. Just as a man, who, being dissatisfied with his own wife, indulges in reducing other women into debauchery, is called immoral; in the same way, a King, who does not perform his royal duties well; a student, who does not apply himself to studies wholeheartedly; a hermit, who does not practise the right
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