Jain Journal 2001 07

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

Page 38

TIWARY: RELEVANCE OF JAIN PRINCIPLES OF MAHAVIRA IN MODERN CONTEXT 33
avoided. Exaggeration of facts, finding faults with others, delivering indecent speech are all examples of falsehood or untruth. Speaking in a noble, beneficient and balanced manner and with a peaceful mind upholds truth and hence it must be practised. The absense of artificiality is the observance of truth. According to Mahavira, truthfulness lies in the heart of non-violence. Those, who speak untruth, hurt all, which is a pure act of violence. Several characteristics like confidence, gravity, bravery and selflessness can be found only in a truthful person (satya purusa).
Likewise, Mahāvīra advocated restraint and penance and for this, renunciation and non-possession are essential. The literal meaning of asteya (non-stealing) is abstention from taking a thing of someone else which is not given. But, in Jainism, it is much more comprehensive and includes within it, the avoidance of all sorts of dishonesty and conceit. This vrata leads to the path of social equality. Jainism wishes that one should get only his due and everybody has got the right to get his own part in the society. It very clearly advises its followers to voluntarily sacrifice as many things as possible. Jainism regards stealing as a severe kind of violence.
The principle of non-possession (aparigraha) is one of the ethical conceits of Tirthankara Mahavira. According to him, craving brings greed and this greed gives birth to our desires. Craving, as the Jain texts say, never ends, rather it turns into lust and attachment, which is the main cause for possession. Mahavira not only preached the principles of non-possession, but denounced possession in his hardest words and asked the people to accept the vow of aparigraha if they wished harmony and peace in their social organisations. Aparigraha does not merely mean discarding household things, but it refers to non-accumulation of wealth and simplicity of life. From the śramanic perspective, wealth cannot give what is necessary to a man. An aversion to possession to keep down one's requirements is a primary condition of the non-violent way of life. Jain teachers were free from fear and want. According to Mahavira, the root of all the sufferings was attachment towards the objects of worldly enjoyment. He advised that wisemen should not develop attachments with the worldly things, not even with his/her own body. He has preached that it is only when attachment is vanished that the human mind becomes free from mental tensions and emotional disorders. Possession is just against the idea of purification and both cannot go together side by side. Non-possession is the foundation for spiritual and humanistic contemplation. The lust for possession instigates several social sins, like injustice, fued, hatred, bitterness and socio-economic inequality. Against all such things,