Jaina Acara Siddhanta aur Svarupa

Author(s): Devendramuni
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 97

Jaina Acāra : Siddhānta aura Swarupa ever runs after the mirage of money. When he loses all, he becomes so worried that he takes no interest in life. Nobody trusts him. The Rgveda says that it must be discarded, since it spoils life altogether. It is a sort of scabbies. The more you scratch it, the worse it becomes. It is a contagious disease which infects others. Sūtrakrtānga' forbids gambling in the form of the game chess, since the loser does not stop playing. Plants cannot be preserved in the midst of conflagration. The goddess of wealth does not stay with the person who itches for gambling which is the child of avarice, but the parent of prodigality.
There have been different forms of gambling. In the Mahābhārata times, it was dice but chess in the Mughal Period. Later it took the shape of lottery and multi-faced speculation. Betting on races is gambling in another form. Gantama Kulaka states that one who is addicted to gambling wastes money without giving an equivalent for it. All unearned money is like a river in the rainy season. It takes away the principal sum, viz; water. A
er is never at ease with himself. If he wins, he plays with added zest If not, his only worry is to get back the money. Not only his pocket but his intellect also is emptied. Gambling is a blinding storm which does not let one see anything in the enveloping darkness. The gambler is not open to reason. Even when a loser, he pretends to be a winner. He makes false promises and takes false oaths. The queen Damayanti had to wander from one forest to another because of her husband Nala's gambling habit. Draupadi's mantle was forcibly seized because of her husband's addiction. It has ruined thousands of homes. In olden times kings and the rich gentry, when challenged to contest, would sacrifice everything for its sake. But today the rich and poor alike have taken to it. Vasunandi has said that fire, poison, thief and snake give you trouble for a short while but gambling pursues the gambler for innumerable births.
II Non-Vegetarianism Meat eating is totally against human nature. Modern physiologists hold that human body and meat are contraries. The very constitution of man does not warrant it. Man's habit of taking meat is not natural. It is the result of perverted taste. Vyāsa says that flesh does not grow on trees nor is it a product of the earth. As such it should be discarded. Manu says that meat cannot be had without violence. Carnivorous people have no chance of being admitted to heaven. They go on committing sins because of meat-eating. They experience its ill-effects either here or in hell. Hemacandra says that crippled, lame and lepers are there because of violence. Manu says that 'Mansa' means he will gulp me down'. The animals whose flesh you are eating will eat you up in the next life. Sthānānga, Kabira and others have said that there is no room for meat-eaters in heaven. There are some who say that they themselves do not kill animals