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JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XLV, NO. I-IV JULY.-JUNE 10-11
peoples and nations, materially more affluent having all the amenities of life, are more in the grip of tensions Medical as well as psychological, reports of advanced nations confirm this fact. This shows that the cause of our tensions is not scarcity of the objects of necessities, but the endless desires and the lust for worldly enjoyment. Among the most burning problems the world is facing these days, the problem of mental tension is prime. We are living in tension all the time and are deprived of, even a pleasant sound sleep. The single and most specific feature by which our age may be characterised is that of tensions.
As a matter of fact all the problems which we are facing today are generated by us and therefore, their consequences are also to be born by us.
The main object of Jianism is to emancipate man from his sufferings i.e. mental tensions and thus to attain equanimity or tranquility. First of all, we must know the causes of these mental tensions. For Jainism the basic human sufferings are not physical physical, but mental. These mental sufferings or tensions are due to Qur attachment towards worldly objects. It is the attachment, which is fully responsible for them. The famous Jaina text Uttarādhyāyanasutra mentions: “The root of all sufferings physical as well as mental, or every body including gods, is attachment, which is the root cause of mental tension."! Only a detached attitude towards the objects of worldly enjoyment can free menkind from mental tension. According to Lord Mahavira, to remain attached to sensuous objects is to remain in the whirl. Says he: "Misery is gone in the case of a man who has no delusion, while delusion is gone, in the case of a man who has no desire, desire is gone in the case of a man who has no greed while greed is gone in the case of a man who has no attachment.”? The efforts made to satisfy the human desires through material objects can be likened to the chopping off of the branches while watering the roots. he further remarks that uncountable mountains of gold and silver like Kailasa can not satisfy the desires of human beings because desires
