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Mahavira & Precepts on Learning / 147
8. Ahara-Viveka
One should shun tasty food in excess for they
stimulate passions.
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Excessive food is not beneficial for a celibate. Excessively spicy and flavoured food is an instant poison, for an aspirant who seeks enlightenment. The noble aspirants do not consume food for taste or pleasure. They regulate their diet solely for religious pursuits. Those who take wholesome and healthy food in lesser quantity, never fall sick. They do not need the services of a physician. They are their own physician. Intake of food after sunset is prohibited in Jain agams. Knowledge is instrumental in emancipation and body is instrumental in the acquisition of knowledge. An aspirant is permitted to take regulated diet for the sustenance of the body. As in a dense forest, a fire fanned by strong winds cannot he extinguished, so also the sensual fire of the person who eats food in excessive quantity can never be extinguished.
