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Non-Violence : A Way of Life your throat, does that much harm to you as your soul engaged in evil conduct does to you. So, natural restraint gladly accepted, is the source of happiness, peace and transquillity."
The fifth great vow is of possessionlessness. Possession is the source of evil. Possession is not only the acquisition or accumulation of things, but also the temptation and the attachment to things. This possession is the source of all the five evils viz. himsa, untruthfulness, stealing, sensual pleasure and attachment. Today, we see that the chief cause of the boundless miseries of the present world, is in man's uncontrolled tendency to possess. Man believes that possession brings happiness. But in fact possession is the cause of the miseries and bondage. Possession makes a man a slave of external things. As the bee sucks honey from the flower without destroying it, so the welfareseeking man does the last possible harm to another in his worldly life. Thus expounding the five great vows Bhagwan Mahavira says, "As the wind blows across flaming fire, so ideal people observing these vows will pass through the samsara and attain eternal joy."
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