Jain Journal 2008 01 No 03

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

Page 11

Satya Ranjan Banerjee:Contributionofthe Jainsin DevelopingMoral FibresoftheIndians
According to the Jains not a single thing is to be taken unless it is given by the person who is the possessor of the thing. The Jains even say that if a fake thing is considered as real and vice-versa, fraud, deception and a business of a prohibited things are to be considered as caurya (stealing). This idea is also expressed by Manu in a different way.
yo'nyatha santam ātmānam anyatha satsu bhāṣate/ sa papakṛt-tamo loke stena ātmāpahārakaḥ //
[Manu IV. 255]
115
"If one does not express what he is really, then he is a sinful man, he really is a thief, because he conceals himself."
Manu further says-
vācyārthā niyatāḥ sarve vāñ-mūlā vāg-viniḥsṛtāḥ / tām tu yaḥ stenayed vācaṁ sa sarva-steya-kṛnnaraḥ //(iv 256)
"Everything is based on speech, everything is indeed speech, from speech everything has come down (to us). If a person steals (the truth) by means of untrue speech, he, in fact, steals everything."
Mahāvīra also asserts that stealing is a bad habit for humanity at large and from stealing there arise lots of inhuman activities which are detrimental to the society, and a sort of chaos and catastrophy will prevail thereupon. So non-stealing has another effect upon the society; it will inculcate a sort of tolerance in the society, and so non-stealing is recommended by Mahāvīra as one of the elements of tolerance.
The third point which the Jains, nay even the whole Indian Dharmaśāstras, emphasise is celibacy, brahmacarya, which means abstaining from amorous dalliance. In Jaina tradition any kind of käma is to be abandoned. Devagupta (1016 A.D) in his Nava-padaprakarana (verses 48-50) has described kāma in various ways. Robert Williams in his Jaina Yoga (1963) at page 84 has nicely summed up the whole issue: