Book Title: Equanimity Philosophy and Practice Author(s): Nanesh Acharya Publisher: Agam Ahimsa Samta Evam Prakrit SamsthanPage 77
________________ (Monk). The difference between the two is that a house holder relinquishes gross hurting, big lies, stealing, adultery or unbridled possessions, whereas an ascetic relinquishes all of these completely (whether gross or subtle). The lower stage is of a house holder, while an ascetic dwelling upon the higher stages of renunciation minutely practises the philosophy of eqanimity. With a view-point, the path of Mahavira is renunciation-oriented in the sense that his teachings tend to lead him towards the light of Sapient Consciousness after deviating him from the infatuation of inanimate objects. The opposite of renunciation is attachment i. e., becoming oblivious of the Inner Self and keep loitering after the mirage for the worldly pleasures. Where there is this meandering (loitering). there is selfishness, deterioration and heterogeneousness. The higher stages of a house holder's or an ascetic's lives have been designed with a view to bring an aspirant within the bounds of equanimity, maintain there and promote him further. The outstanding qualities of a monk could be said as non-attachment to any person or a thing, indifference for honour or insult, equanimous thought, vision and action, self-reliance like air and unindulgence like sky, non-belonging even for his own body. awakening even when sleeping, observing harmony in pain-pleasure, praise-blame, life or death, contemplating equanimity, egoless in spite of higher gains of spiritual-mental powers,surrendering himself for three-jems of knowledge, vision and conduct. For surv. ivality of life he should collect needful things like a wasp who takes a little pollen from every flower as his food. No event is wonderous for him. (His father is his religion, mother his forgiveness. He considers religion as his 52 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.orgPage Navigation
1 ... 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244