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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
lead a life of contentment as he will have neither fear nor greed to disturb his peace of mind. It should be remembered that the world lives on the charities of good men. We have more poor people in every country than than the rich. So a social obligation is cast on every individual to part with something of what he possesses. While fulfilling this social and moral obligation by extensive or liberal charity, the donor should not entertain pride or vanity; he should not utter anything that will hurt the donee or subject him to insult of some kind.
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While giving, the mind should be full of joy and throughly free from the slightest idea that he is parting with something that is his own. It fact, nothing is ours except that we have parted with; what is left behind when we take leave of the world belongs to others.
Aparigraha or non-possessiveness which is one of the five Aṇuvratas has already been discussed and much of what has been said on the subject would apply with equal appropriateness to the subject of renunciation.
9 Uttama Akiñcanya or Complete Non-attachment
He who has nothing is akiñcana. To entertain such a thought is akiñcanya. In this world, there is nothing that one can legitimately call his own. Even the body is not his own as it is independent of the soul. The body is only an instrument for the practice of Dharma or religion. It is perishable. The object of this virtue is that every one should firmly know as a matter of faith and ultimate reality that the atman has nothing that he can call his own, that he is infinite k owledge and bliss, that everything else like the body, the relatives, the caste, the family etc belong to the body and that it is only by cherishing such ideas that he can achieve the noble goal of life.
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The suppression f the ego is most difficult and impossible for ordinary human eings. An individual's life is constantly fed by the ideas of "". myself" "mine" and "ours". Such ideas are germare to worldly existence and are in reality the results
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