Book Title: Jainism by Vividus
Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

Previous | Next

Page 188
________________ right and wrong, good or bad, high or low, noble or mean etc., and vital i.e. the life of the viltal force with its desires, passions, urges, impulses, ambitions. greed, pride, anger, jealousy, revenge, love, sympathy, compassion, toleration, charity, sharing, humility, gratefulness etc., and psychical i.e.. the life of higher gropings, tendencies, aspirations for light and shine and beauty etc, and spiritual i.e. life with its yearnings for expansion of consciousness to include in its ambit all living and non-living, the whole of the universe : what do we notice? How do we re-act? That is where the meens as laid down in Jainism to bring about Samaktva come in and become relevant. That is where what flows from Samyaktva come in : vows, austerities, reflections : vratas, tapas and bhavanas each of them being broadly twelve in number. The 12 vows or vratas are : himsa viramana-abstinence from violence i.e. non-violence, mrushavad viramana-abstinence from falsehood, i.e. truth chourya Viramana -abstinence from theft i.e. non-stealing, parigraha viramana-abstinence from accumulation i.e. non-accumulation, stri-rati viramana, abstinence from women i.e. faithfulness to wife and family in the case of householders and total celebacy in the case of initiated monks, dikvrat i.e. movement restricted in all or some of the directions, deshvrat i.e. movement restricted in duration for some or all time, anarthadandavrat i e. thoughtless imposition of self on others, samayika j.e. practice of regular meditation, Posadhopvasal.e. practice of occasional partial or long fasting viz abstinence from food or drinks, bhogopabhogaparimana i.e. limited sensual enjoyment both. in extent and duration small and large, and lastly atithisamvibhaga i.e. practice of sharing what' one has with others even uninvited. It seems to me quite unreasonable if the first vow of non-viol. ence, even physical non-violence; let alone mental and verbal is blown up abnormally while giving little or practically no attention whatever in practice i.e. day to day life to such other no less important vows viz of abstaining from accumulation, attachment 72

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212