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Śakra - "O' Royal warrior ! You must accept monastic
ordination only after getting abundant religious ritual offerings performed and after performing such offerings yourself, after feeding many Śramanic and Brāhaminic mendicants, after giving ample charities to the deserving
and enjoying the fruits of your pious actions.” Nami - “The observance of self restraint, inherent in monastic
life, is better than giving a million cows in charity every month. Monasticism is beneficial and an assurance of spiritual wealth even when the monks cannot give
anything in charity.” Śakra - 'O' Royal monarch ! your desire to become a monk by
leaving the household is not right. You must perform
many a pious deed while staying a householder.” Nami - "One, who undertakes even such rigorous penance as
observing fasts for months on end and taking only as little food as can be held on the tip of a blade of grass, but with ignorance, cannot gain even the sixteenth part of the benefit to be drawn from observing the right monasticism
as preached by the Lords Jina." Śakra - "O'Royal warrior ! You must accept monastic
ordination only after filling your treasury with invaluable gems and pearls as well as gold and silver and after
acquiring abundant quantities of clothes, pots and vans.” Nami – “The greed is insatiable and great like the expanse of
the sky. Even if there be innumerable heaps of gold and silver, each as large as Mt. Kailāśa, they are not enough for the greedy. All the wealth of the earth like land, grains, gold and cattle are not enough to satisfy the greed of even one greedy person. I must, therefore not pursue the path of worldly wealth and follow that of spiritual wealth, restraint and penance to be gained through spiritual pursuits."
NAMI PRAVRAJYĀ THE ORDINATION OF NAMI: 309
