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50
Jaina Philosophy and Religion
which the activities are performed, the doer does incur the defilement of internal) violence.
What is proper care? How can one decide that the care is proper? This depends upon the circumstances under which one conducts one's activities. It is quite obvious that a farmer while conducting agricultural activities in his field cannot observe that much care which a saint in his hermitage observes while conducting hermitage activities. All agree that while conducting agricultural activities many small living beings are injured or killed. Yet to prevent the calamity of great and terrible violence on account of the lack of agricultural products, it becomes our (farmers') inescapable duty to produce corns in the fields. Violence committed on such occasions is considered to be very little, negligible and pardonable. If the activities involving violence are done with the sole objective of social welfare, then those activities turn good, wholesome and praiseworthy. Problem of the determinants of the different scales of violence is treated of in the third chapter of this book.
As for the householder it is not possible to abstain from the violence of the one-sensed beings, his vow of non-violence concedes the violence of the one-sensed beings. Yet he is required to avoid as far as possible the unnecessary violence of the one-sensed beings too. Again, in determining as to which living beings are to be considered innocent or guilty, one should use one's discretionary faculty. It is not proper to consider a snake or a scorpion to be guilty, simply because it has bitten us or our relatives. So, it is not proper to kill a snake or a scorpion that bites us or our relatives. Man's mind should be full of compassion and universal love. With his discretionary power he should weigh benefits and harms possible in each and every act he is going to perform. And only afterwards he should undertake any activity. The essence of humanity is good will towards all creatures.
Gross Vow of Refraining from Lying (Sthūla Myşāvādaviramaņa) For the householder who cannot vow to refrain from subtle falsehoods
1. Ananda, etc. were the ten well-known direct lay-disciples of Lord Mahāvīra. They had
taken twelve vows of the householder. In the vow of limiting one's possessions, they had conceded to possess 500 ploughs, 500 carts for journey from country to country and 500 other carts for carrying load of grass, grains, sticks, etc. to places like home, etc.; again, some of them had one vraja (1 vraja = 10,000 cows), some four, some six and still some eight. See Upāsakadaśāsūtra.
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