Jain Journal 1968 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 55

JULY, 1968
it is the root cause of all the maladies haunting the present world. It is the joy in possession which increases human desires to an unlimited extent. Desires have been compared with a vehicle having enormous speed which needs to be checked.
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So aparigraha is a great vow, a mahāvrata; monks and nuns are required to practise it-to have no attachment to anything, wealth, property, animals or grains. But for the laity aparigraha is prescribed as an aṇuvrata-small vow. The commandment to retain no more than 'necessary' (parigraha-viramaṇa-vrata) provided but a very elastic restriction to their extensive accumulation of wealth. Mrs. Stevenson (Heart of Jainism) mentions the motive offering of a Jaina of a recent past to earn, 'no more than Rs. 45,000', and to give the surplus as a gift,--whereby apparently it was assumed that to earn this amount presented no difficulties.
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Thus said Ananda (the great devotee) unto the Lord, ...with tonsured head I cannot court total renunciation. But from the Beloved of the God, do I embrace the five aṇuvratas and seven lessons, total twelve, as prescribed for the laity.
"Then he limited his will as to coins of gold-to four crores that lay underground, and four crores that lay invested and the four crores that was the value of his property.'
A wealthy person like Ananda who could retain a total of 12 crores of gold coins with him without breaking the vow of non-possession is a self-evident instance of the flexibility of the vow for the laity. The distribution of the enormous wealth under three heads by Ananda reveals a few interesting points. Out of the total possession by Ananda 1/3 was kept underground by him. The only thinkable reason behind this underground hoarding can be the motive of security. But it doesn't mean that he was unaware of the role of investment to augment the existing wealth. Out of the total wealth of twelve crores of gold coins he had invested 4 crores in productive channels to reap the advantages of investment. Here we find the nosegay of entreprenureship among the ancient Jainas without being limited by the vow of non-possession. The lay followers are required to observe this vow by keeping property in all forms to a certain limit consistent with their standard and profession and not to hanker after more. This is a religio-economic consideration. But it does great good to the society too.
By limiting one's property, the vow keeps in check the concentration of wealth and paves the way for its wider and more even distribution.