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Dr. Charlotte Krause : Her Life & Literature
individual can save himself from binding bad Karmas, and that is the ‘Pratyākhyāna', i.e., the solemn vow of restriction concerning harmful acting. For it is not enough not to do evil deeds, after all, but one must avoid them with full intention and deliberation. Thus, one can, e.g., vow not to eat meat, in order to give and assurance of safety, 'Abhayadāna', the noblest of all gifts, to a large group of animals, one can vow to avoid eating at night, in order to put another kind of limit to one's actions connected with indirect harm to others, one can vow not to wear silk or fur, or leather foot-wear, for the benefit of the animals producing it, one can vow not to break flowers, or not to kill any animal whatsoever, down to worms and insects, one can vow not to waste any articles of daily use, such as water, fire, food, clothes, beyond one's actual requirements, one can vow not to encourage the captivating and training of wild animals for the sake of sport or amusement, by avoiding to visit shows, etc., referring thereto, and one can vow to avoid thousands of similar actions connected with direct or indirect injury to other creatures. There are various kinds of Pratyākhyānas, from Pratyākhyānas of single actions of the above character, upto the stereo-type group of the five all-comprising Pratyākhyānas, called the Pañca Mahāvrata, or the Five Great Vows, viz., the Pratyākhyāna of all physical injury whatsoever, that of all verbal injury, that of appropriating things arbitrarily, that of sexual intercourse and everything connected therewith, and that of keeping property or belongings of any kind. These five vows are taken by every Jaina monk at the time of his initiation in a form of absolute strictness. They comprise not only the doing of those objectionable actions, but also the causing of their being done and the approval one might give to their being done, by thought, word and action. The five great vows guarantee indeed the optimum of faultlessness attainable in this world. And this optimum is only attainable by persons of the highest qualities, who do not care to keep up any attachment whatsoever. Thus, a genuine Jaina Muni, even one of the twentieth century, will never use any vehicle, not shoes, nor keep money, nor touch a woman, nor kindle, or sit
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