Fundamentals Of Jainism

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

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FUNDAMENTALS OF JAINISM
others-dependents, friends and the like--who naturally follow one's lead in mattors pertaining to religion and morality.
We come now to the second class ot causes which interfere with the steadiness of dhyana. These comprise all those tendencies. and traits, including passions and emotions which have their root in desire. Whenever the mind is engrossed in the pursuit of desire, it displays a tendency to wander away after its objects, thus robbing the soul of serenity and peace and the body of ease and restfulness. The remedy for this kind of distrurbance consists in the development of the spirit of renunciation which will engender the state of dcsirclessness.
The third type of causes of distraction have reference to the unsteadincss of body, endarise from want of control over the bodily limbs, ill health, the habit of luxury i.e., inability to bear hardships, and the like. The observance of rules which direclty aim at imparting health and strength to the body, and the avoidance of the habits of luxury would be generally found sufficient to bring the physical tabernacle of gross matter under the control of will, and to render it capable of bearing the constantly increasing strain of trials and hardships involved in the scverest forms of self-denial. Food, it should be clearly understood, plays the most important part in the physical training for asceticism, since it directly affects the constitution of the body and the condition of nerves which have to be purified of their grossness before they can respond to the impulses of will in the desired manner. Hence, where impure food is allowed to coarsen the brain and nerves, it is idle to expect any happy results from the practising of yoga (asceticism). Thc aspirant after immortality and bliss must, therefore, make up his mind to exclude, from li: daily menu, all those articles which augment the prostration of nerves together with those that do not increase the vitality of the system. Meat and wine, which not only tend to coarsen the nerves, but which also cxcite unholy passions and desires, at once fall in the category of things to be avoided, and the same is the case with foods that are hot, excessively sour, pungent, putrid, stale, unwholesome and those which become tolerable after a time, such as tobacco, and the like Cereals, vegetables, fruits and nuts, along with milk and its different preparations (clarified butter, sour-milk and the like). sugar and certain wholesome condiments, go to build up a healthy