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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
on the soul by the evil acts performed in the past births. Again, it was also meant to give concrete form to his strong resolve of rousing righteous indignation among the masses against killings of animals in various Vedic sacrifices, establishing non-violence in place of violence and preaching and propagating the principle of non-violence. Lord Mahāvīra was the compassionate par excellence. Again, in those days there was prevalent a debased practice of buying and selling of war prisoners as slaves. To generate disgust among the people against this callous practice so that they may ultimately rise to eradicate it was possibly the altruistic auspicious intention of Lord Mahāvīra, an embodiment of spiritual good, behind his external austerity. All these possibilities come to our mind, if we study the stories of this great saint's past births. When Lord Mahāvīra as a Jaina monk possessed cognitive powers of four types before the attainment of omniscience, he was well-known as dirgha-tapasvī (practiser of austerities of very long duration). We cannot believe that he practised austerities for a long period of time simply for the purpose of causing pains and sufferings to his body. We feel that behind the great austerities of this great friend of all beings was a catholic purpose of achieving universal good. This becomes clear from the study of his biography. Lord Mahävira's that ‘self-imposed restriction' (abhigraha) and its associate special event of setting free Candanabālā from her slavery can very well give us the idea of the catholic altruistic purpose behind his brilliant austerities.
Without internal austerity, the external one is of no value. The main, direct and best austerity is the internal austerity, and the external austerity is useful to the extent it is conducive to the internal one. The austerity which is useful in neither purifying mind, nor elevating life, nor benefiting the bodily health is worthless and purposeless austerity springing from stark ignorance.
Those who practise external austerity should not become a burden to others.
At this juncture, it is advisable to remember that for health what is necessary is the digestion and assimilation of the eaten food accumulated in the stomach. Extinction of the power of digestion entails the gradual destruction of all life-forces and as a result causes various diseases. A disease adversely influences the mind and thereby acts as an obstruction to meditation, study and practice of religion. So the first and foremost requirement is the healthy body. Hence, we should practise external austerities in such a manner that there may not arise any disease due to
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