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Non-Violence: A Way of Life
Similarly the monk does not care about anything, but proceeds on and on in the life of austerity."
Bhagwan Mahavira's style of sermonizing was jnata style. It was a simple but poignant style explaining his point of view allegorically.
Once during his monsoon sojourn in Rajgraha he told this story:
People often keep animals to provide for their days of fasting. Take the example of the lamb who is pampered and fed so well by the master that he becomes as fat as a pig. It believes that it is extremely happy. It eats, drinks and makes merry, while other lambs wander in search of food and die of hunger.
Meanwhile a guest comes to its master's house. Its master takes the healthy and stout lamb and kills it. He cuts it into pieces and makes a tasty dish. The lamb now feels sorry for the guest ever came."
Bhagwan Mahavira tells us this story to make us meditate on the true nature of life. The guest is none other than old age which visits everyone. The knife is the knife of death which kills everyone.
But it is the duty of a man to wake up in time before old age and finally death overtakes him.
Mahavira gave his sermon in Ardhamagadhi, the language of the laity or the layman. His last monsoon sojourn was in Pavapuri. A number of kings had assembled there at that time. It was now the seventy second year of Mahavira's life. On hearing the news of Bhagwan Mahavira's nirvan, every house
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