Jaina Acara Siddhanta aur Svarupa

Author(s): Devendramuni
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 89

Jaina Acara : Siddhanta aura Swarūpa personality. You should, therefore, spend time with such people as are wise, of right conduct and faith, and from whom you can learn good things. A
ous cloth, if stained, loses its glitter. The stain of bad company spoils life. Environment affects every body, since it is no less potent than heredity. As such, your neighbours also must be well-behaved and curteous. Otherwise they can make a hell of your life.
The tenth quality is to serve your parents heart and soul. Children grow only because their parents take all care of them at the cost of their own comfort. Plants grow only when the gardener looks after them. The parents' debt can never be repaid even by the most obedient sons. All dust particles of the earth and all drops of the ocean can stand no comparison with the parents' benefactions. Manu says that a preceptor is greater than ten
-teachers; a father is an abler teacher than a hundred preceptors and mother excels a thousand fathers. The mother sows healthy seeds in her child. They are nourished by the father. We talk of the mother earth but the father is no less then a supreme god. Ethics lays down that children must act up to the advice of their parents and hand over their income to them. They should seek blessings from their elders. The Jaina scriptures say that the mother is a goddess preceptress. Children should have implicit faith in their mothers and respect them as they honour their teachers.
The eleventh quality is to be free from tumult and disturbances. They vitiate the atmosphere. In ancient times there used to be two main commotions: war and pestilence; both of which were fatal resulting in the death of millions.
The twelfth quality is to do nothing censurable. Everybody wants to lead a peaceful, happy life which is the outcome of right faith and good conduct. If you do something wrong secretly and think that you will not be exposed is a mistaken view. The smell of musk will permeate the atmosphere and there can be no check on it.
The thirteenth quality is to spend less than your income. If you spend more than your income, you will have to borrow money and things will go topsyturvy. It's money that makes the mare go. But the means of earning money, if corrupt, will make you a swindler. One of the four basic aims of human existence is money which follows piety in order of precedence. It means that money should be eamed by righteous means. In the past what a householder did was (1) A part of income was invested in business or profession (2) Another part was used for household necessities like hospitality and charity (3) A part was meant for household expenses (4) The rest to be saved for whatever emergency may arise. Overspending will reduce even Kubera, the god of wealth, to beggary. It leads to stealth, robbery and the like.
The fourteenth quality is to dress yourself according to your resources. These days Indians also have started imitating others and putting