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the greatest viriyam is not muscle power to knock somebody down but rather, inner strength to put into practice what one understands.
Even with regard to the vows and rules he was observing as a monk, his teacher emphasized the importance of rediscovering those vows from within. In general, charitra or right conduct flowed from understanding the deep meaning of ahimsā which Mahavir stated simply as follows: “Refrain from those things which are harmful to life and do those things which are helpful.”
The suffocation Munishree had felt from time to time in his training disappeared and gave way to a feeling of freedom. He had a new attitude toward discipline through his understanding of upāyoga. Disciplines, he saw, freed him to conserve and direct his energy, to feel his life, and to penetrate the reality of existence.
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Among the forty-five books of Mahāvir's utterances which Munishree absorbed and studied, the fifth book known as the Bhagavati Sār gave him meditations on non-violence and how to regard life with reverence and love. Among the most farreaching of Mahāvir's statements are the following two, which Munishree found deeply illumining.
The first one is:
णत्थि अणूदो अपं आयासादो अणूणयं णत्थि । जह तह जाण महल्लं ण वयमहिंसासमं अस्थि ।। Ņatthi aņūdo appam āyāsādo aņunayam natthi Jaha taha jāņa mahallam na vayamahimsāsamam atthi.
“There is nothing so small and subtle as the atom nor any element so vast as space. In the same way, there is no quality of soul more subtle than ahimsā and no virtue of spirit greater than reverence for life.”
Munishree saw in his meditation that when he withdrew deeply into himself, what he found was the subtlest feeling; it was none other than ahimsā, for at those times, there was no ego, no desire to go out from himself, to move, to fight, to
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