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Celebrating Jain Society of Houston Pratishtha Mahotsav 1995
This brings us to the third pillar of Jainism, aparigraha (non-acquisition).
Did not man bleed mentally and spiritually to gratify his lust for acquisition, and would he not attain serenity if he renounced it? thought the Muni.
It is only human desire, but our noblest desire should be to attain a state of "desirelessness" when he can accept things as they come to him, and can look on with equanimity when they leave him.
Has it not been said: "It is easy to free oneself from iron chains but not from the attachments of the heart?" What are these "attachments of the heart?" Things that you desire so much that you spend all your energy in acquiring them and when you have acquired them, you get so attached to them that their loss would render your life most unhappy. The principle of nonacquisition teaches us not to give too much importance to acquiring worldly things a house, a car, comforts of various kinds, and not to value them so much that their loss would mean the end of the world for us. Everyone needs things to make fife comfortable. Jainism does encourage a layman to renounce everything; that is only for the Sadhu - the ascetic. But Jainism does enjoin that even a layperson should set a certain limit to his desires, his wants, so that he does not keep on acquiring and accumulating and in the process deny others what they need. The ideal is to cut his requirements to the bare minimum.
This ancient principle of limited possession is extremely significant and valuable in the context of the economic conditions prevailing in the world today. A social order based upon this principle will certainly prevent unnecessary accumulation of wealth and its inseparable counterpart, poverty and wretchedness. It will lay the foundation of a welfare society - a modem term.
The principle of aparigraha can guide every individual, society, or nation in its positive efforts to enhance the happiness of mankind in general.
After having dealt with non-violence, the theory of relativity, and non-acquisition, we come to the last pillar on which Jainism rests, the law of karma (deeds or action).
This non-acquisition or non-possession should extend even to attachments to human beings to our dear ones. It would be unnatural for a parent not to love his or her child, but there should be no possessiveness about this love. It is this possessiveness that is called attachment and one should try not to be bound by it.
How strange the mind is! It does not appreciate what it has and hankers after what it has not. Neglecting the light of the soul that burns within it, how long will it grope in the darkness of the world without chasing shadows that ever elude it?
Destiny is shaped by deeds done during the previous incarnation as well as deeds done during this life. We enjoy the fruits of those good deeds now, during our present life. But we should be careful not to fritter away or misuse these fruits - rather we should think of molding our destiny for the next incarnation, ever progressing in our spiritual evolution. It is easy to waste these fruits; much more difficult to utilize them in shaping our future destiny
Let me cite here how a Muni, a monk, was given a practical lesson in this matter by a number of stray dogs. The Muni, engrossed in his philosophical thoughts of acquisition and renunciation, was passing through a street. Suddenly he was disturbed by the savage barking of dogs.
He saw that a dozen dogs were chasing one dog who was running away with a bone in his mouth. Soon they caught up with him and mauled him. Bleeding from the wounds, the dog dropped the bone and was left in peace. No sooner had he dropped the bone than another picked it up and he too met with the same fate; and so the chase for the bone and the consequent punishment went on.
Jainism explains joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity, and differentiation in physical, mental and spiritual abilities through the theory of karma. It explains the problem of inequality and apparent injustice in the worlu. Karma denotes that substance which we continuously absorb as the result of our bodily and mental activity. We produce karma through all our daily activities. Different kinds of activity produce different kinds of karma which may ripen either immediately or after some time, or even in one or another of our subsequent existences.
Reflecting on this ugly incident the Muni realized the truth. So long as the dog clung to the bone, he had to bleed for it; the moment he gave it up he was left in peace.
And yet, Jain philosophy does not view the soul as hopelessly condemned to act and react upon the consequences of its earlier deeds, as if it were an automatic machine, and beyond all responsibility for its moral attitude and action.
"Before a person sety out to test his faith by moving a mountain, he should try to move an anthill first"
(Lord Mahavira)
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