________________
Jaina Acāra : Siddhānta aura Svarūpa
251 the country during the reign of Candragupta. He wrote in his memoirs, "In Pataliputra and other towns houses are not locked. None is prone to stealing. People do not lift objects lying an the way. All transactions are oral. No written agreement or documentation is needed".
Stealth is of the following kinds :
(1) Channa—There are very many objects in a house. Some of them may be lying in your own house but they do not belong to you. To take a thing without the owner's permission or to possess it secretly is this type of theft.
(2) Najaracaryā-It is to lift up things without being sighted by the owner.
(3) Thagi -It is to lift up things in the presence of the master but without letting him have an inkling of it. It is to show a good sample but to dispatch sub-standard articles. Adulteration, not giving correct measure and charging a higher price than the stated one come under this head.
(4) Udghataka—It is unlocking a bundle, picking pockets, making a hole in the wall, breaking locks of the safe and the like come under this head.
(5) Balāt-It is dacoity, forcible seizure, use of weapons to intimidate the inmates of a house and by thereateling them in other ways come under this head.
(6) Ghātaka— It is forcible possession by murdering people.
The above thefts are because of the carelessnes. of owners. There are, however, some secret thefts, plagiarism being one of them. Somebody talks to you under the mistaken belief that you are a reputed ascetic. Since you do not contradict him, it is theft all the same.
You have some furniture and the like from an institution which you might have served. You continue using them, thinking that you would return them when asked for. This, too, is a kind of theft, because what you had received for a limited period should be returned on the expiry of the date.
Hoarding of corn and other necessities of life are also other kinds of theft, because thereby you deprive others of their share. If you make no use of your talent or wealth, it is no less a theft. Such a self-centred person cannot be at peace with himself.
Another kind of theft is, to give an example, to learn some art from a teacher, but when asked you say that you larent it by yourself. This is forgetting the good that others did to you. Smuggling is another kind of. theft. If you take an unconscionably long time to do what you could do in a much shorter time is no less theft
Monks, in the absence of their seniors should take permission from the Lord of the Earth. The least laxity in the observance of the vow may be a monk's undoing. All ropes of a tent must be tied securely to the pegs.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
