Bhagvana Mahavira

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 73

Transvaluation
65
ficer ?”
All of them said unanimously, "Yes, indeed." The Chief Minister said, "Has not the wood-cutter renounced his wife ? Sexual enjoyment is available to every person. But the woodcutter has made it impossible for himself to indulge in it. Then how is he not a renouncer ? Also he has made a sacrifice in totally giving up the use of fire. Then how is he not a renouncer ? The Chief Minister of Magadha had not bowed to a wood-cutter but to one who is a renouncer."
The colleagues had nothing more to argue about. The Social Value of Religion : Extension of the Code of Conduct for the Householder
The age of Bhagavān Mahāvira was chiefly an age of religion. There was a wide-spread adherence to religion. Ths ruler as well as the people had a deep faith in religion. But religion was practised mostly in the form of rites andi rituals, and that too merely for attaining the heaven. Such form of religious practice did no service to the society. Bhagavān Mahāvīra preached a religion based on spiritual and moral conduct. A prominent citizen named Anand came to Bhagāvān Mahāvīra with a view to understand the essence of religion. Bhagavān Mahāvīra propounded to him the minor vows and the code of conduct based on them. In this code of conduct has come into prominence the social nexus of religion.
Bhagavān Mahāvīra said, “Ananda, you want to adopt the vow of ahimsa, but you have a large family, thousands of cows and hundreds of servants. You come into contact with thousands of people. You cannot be cruel to them, if you. want to practise ahimsā. You shall not kill any innocent living being intentionally. This will be your vow of nonviolence. In practising it you will have to accept the code of conduct based on it. You know it very well how cruelly the servants and cattle are treated these days. They are caned