________________
218
COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
standing and practice of Ahimsā can exterminate wickedness and hatred from the hearts of men as they contain the seeds of war. Mahatma Gandhi has already proved to the world that Nonviolence and Truth can achieve even against the most formidable powers of the world.
Aşgamūlagupas
Samantabhadra has stated that the eight primary virtues of a Śrāvaka or a house-holder consist of the five aņuvratas and abstinence from wine, meat and honey.34 I have already explained the five aņuvratas' and their significance in the maintenance of purity of mind, thought and action.
Some authors have stated that the eight mūlaguņas consist of abstinence from the five audumbara fruits and from meat, wine and honey. While discussing the vow of Ahimsā, mention has been made of the need to abstain from all the eight things. The five kinds of fruits of the genus ficus, viz. gulār, anjūr, banyan, pipal and pākar are often found filled with living organisms which are quite visible; at times such organisms are found dead, and what is more, there are a large number of seeds of very tiny variety almost indistinguishable from the tiny organisms.
Wine is prohibited as it intoxicates the individual who drinks and has a pernicious effect on his health. In the very act of fermentation, innumerable organisms are transformed into alcohol. Drinking is condemned as the root of all evils: it deludes the mind and affects the sense of discrimination. When a man is fully drunk, he becomes oblivious to all sins committed by him. Somadeva points out that wine was the cause of the ruin of Yadavas just as gambling was the cause of ruin of the Pāndavas. The number of sentient beings transformed into a single drop of wine is large enough to fill the universe.35
I have already discussed the grounds on which meat-eating is prohibited. Somadeva wonders how people who seek their own welfare hope to increase their own flesh with the flesh of others.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
