Book Title: Economics of Mahaveera
Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Adarsh Sahitya Sangh

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Page 139
________________ INTROSPECTION AND CLARIFICATIONS 123 possession/acquisition spreads. A religious person starts practising religion with kayotsarga or with freedom from physical misperceptions. As the sense of attachment with body goes on decreasing, the blind desire for possession also goes on diminishing. Only he who abandons the illusion, the state of the body can be clothed or unclothed. Man is a living creature. The sense of living is not mechanical. Accordingly, all the people are not alike. In them there are differences of likes, thoughts, thinking and mental dispositions. That is why like for the lifeless world, no universal rule can be made for the living world. It does not seem possible that all those who renounce possessions as a matter of religion become followers of the practice of non-possession. But some of them can turn out to be so. It is not possible that everyone of them would follow that path. Our thinking becomes complicated because we adjudge the follower of religion and religious persons by the same standards. The follower of religion is one who lives by accepting religion as good, but he is not capable of fully practising it. It would be unrealistic to assume that all the followers of Jain religion would renounce possessions completely. People can enjoy taking interest in religion-inspired activities, they cannot enjoy taking that much interest in practising religion. They can abide by the formal role of religion, but cannot be sensitized fully by the spirit of religion. This distance between the two axes is the product of man's inner capacity. Between these two, the configuration of principles is linked. This is why we should not reject the fact that followers of religion exercise moderation, but he is not able to live the life of a vrati. We should not have the same expectations from followers of religion, from those looking at religion as noble and from those who are religious and vratis, totally dedicated. Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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