Hajarimalmuni Smruti Granth

Author(s): Shobhachad Bharilla
Publisher: Hajarimalmuni Smruti Granth Prakashan Samiti Byavar

Page 1046

पंचम अध्याय : १३
medicine, knowledge and removal of fears should be freely extended to all needy persons, Jaina or non-Jaina, human or sub-human. This vow of giving to guests' is violated if one places food on a living thing e.g. on a green leaf (Sacittaniksipa); if one covers food with a living thing (Sacitapidhāna); if one delegates his duties as a host, to another (Para-vyapadiśa); if his charitable conduct is vitiated by disrespectfulness or by envious competition with another donor (Mātsarya); or, if his charity is not made at the proper time (Kälātikrama). This finishes our survey of the Vrata's or the vows essential to moral progress. The five Vrata's are vows of non-violence, sexual purity, non-attachment, non-stealing and truthfulness. The The homeless saints practise the vows in their perfection; the practice of those vows by the house-holders must necessarily be imperfect; and hence, the Vrata's as performed by the house-holders have been called the Anu-vrata's,--the difference between the Vrata's and the Anu-vrata's being not one of kind but one of degree in successful observance. The seven Sila's including the three Guņa-vrata's and the four Sikşā-vrata's supplement the observance of the Aņu-vrata's and are generally meant for the house-holders. The observance of the Sila's paves the way of the house-holder for the five cardinal virtues and makes his conduct well-controlled. The Jaina's further maintain that the well ordered life which is the effect of the Sīla-practice should be crowned with a well-ordered death. Such a death is called the Sallikhana by them and consists in a perfectly unattached and dispassionate attitude towards the world, during last moments of life. This Sallikhanä or contemplative death is marked by total abstinence from food, drink, medicine and all things worldly and unperturbed fixation of the dying man upon his self. It is recommended for practice, not merely to a man observing the Sila's (Na Srăvakasyaiva dig-viratyādi-Sīlavatah) but also to one who has brought himself under self-control (Samyatasyāpi). The Sallīkhanā is not a form of suicide. It is recommended only where the body is completely disabled by extreme old age or by endurable diseases or when it is rendered hopelessly helpless by the distruction or enfeeblement of the senses and such other causes and the man becomes conscious of the impending unavoidable death and of the necessity of concentrating himself upon his pure self. Akalanka nicely illustrates the practice of Sallikhana by pointing out firstly how the traders in valuable articles never want the distruction of their store-house; that when causes arise to distroy the house, they try to remove these causes to the best of their ability and resources; that when they find that those distructive causes are irremovable, they do no longer care the house and concentrate their efforts upon the preservation of the valuable articles of the store-house; that it is in the same manner that a good man never wants to put an end to his body; that he tries to save his body when disease and other ailments threaten to distroy it; but that when all attempts to save the body prove to be finally unavailing, he dissociates himself from it and establishes himself exclusively upon his essential self. This is Sallikhanā or peaceful contemplative death, which is essentially different from any form of suicide. It is clear that the calm and faultless character of the Sallikhanā is distroyed and its practice becomes condemnable, if there is in the dying man Jivitāśamsā or a desire to live; Maraņāśmsā or a desire to hasten death; Mitrānurāga or attachment for his friends; Sukhānubandha or a lingering fond remembrance of the occasions of fast enjoyments, or, Nidāna or an expectant desire for enjoyments in the next world.
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