Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Bool Chand
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

Page 84

. ( 76 ) dripping from the water carrier's leather bucket; the third degree to a ram's horn:; and the worst degree to the knot in the foot of a bamboo; the crookedést thing in the world. The result of any of these four sins, if indulged in the worst degree, is to condemn a man to rebirth in hell ; the next worst forces him in his next life to become a bird or a beast, or an insect; it is only the less harmful degrees which would enable him to be Deborn a man or a god; and in order to become a siddha one must completely renounce all wrath, conceit, intrigue and greed.:
It is important to point out that not only wrath, conceit, intrigue, greed, attachment and enmity are sins in the Jain view, but also such personal characteristics as qurrelsomeness, slander, the telling of stories to discredit others, undue fault-finding, excessive attachment to worldy objects of affection, hypocrisy and false faith. The list is a comprehensive one, and when one remembers that the Lord enjoined upon ..every Jain, asctic or householder, to make a daily .confession of these sins, one cannot help being impressed by the significantly ethical character of the whole system. Jain ethics is not simply negative as some critics have been often inclined to point out. The chapter on goy gives a list of positive social duties, the performance of which is regarded as bringing peace of mind to the individual. These duties are the giving of food to the hungry, the weak and the needy, the giving of water to the thirsty, the giving of clothes to the destitute, the giving of shelter and lodging to the homeless. By thinking well of every one and by exerting ourselves to render them services also we accumulate merit. Sweet and fruitful speech, reverential behaviour and generally amiable disposition are among the other acts of Punya. All these are virtues which are the only firm basis of a truly civic and socially useful life ; and even Mrs. Stevenson admits. "not in vain are practical ethics wedded to. philosophical speculation" in Jainism,