Fundamentals Of Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Veer Nirvan Bharti

Page 70

FUNDAMENTALS OF JAINISM
means not only the speaking of truth, but also the abstaining from unplcasant or rude speech. There are five special points to be observed in connection with speech. One should never speak without deliberation, nor in wrath. Speech when the spsaker is influenced by greed is to be condemned, and the same is the case when one is moved by fear. To tell a falschood for fun, or from the desire to return a smart repartce, is also to be
avoided. (111) Non-stealing. A monk is required to be exceedingly
careful in respect of this vrata. He should not even enter any one's house without the permission of the owner, though there be reason to believe that his presence would be welcomed; nor even use any article belonging to another monk without first obtaining his permission
for the purpose. (iv) The vow of absolute celibacy. One should not look
at the feminine form, nor occupy any scat previously occupied by a woman or by a female animal or an eunuch, nor recall to mind the incidents of any past experience of pleasure in connection with the female sex, nor decorate
one's person, nor eat highly scasond food. (v) The vow of renunciation. All liking for pleasant touch,
taste, smell, form (beauty), or word (literature), and for all the objects of the five senses, also hatred or loathing for unplcasant objects, must be completely surrendered
to the pursuit of the sublime Ideal of the soul. These are the five great vows of asceticism; and, as stated before, they differ in the degree of rigidity from the five similar ones of the layman.
The aim being the attainment of liberation from the liability to repeated births and deaths, the ascetic must ardently and earrestly strive for the emancipation of his soul in every possible way, shunning virtue as much as vice--since they are both instrumental in the prolongation of bondage--and trying all the time to establish himself in the purity of contemplation of his own effulgent âtman. It is not to be supposed that the shunning of all kinds of activities of mind, speech and body is tantamount to