Lord Mahavira Vol 01

Author(s): S C Rampuria
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute

Page 60

Thus Sayeth Lord Mahâvîra
51
Therefore, avoid to call a squint 'a squint' an eununch 'an eununch' a sick 'a sick’, a thief 'a thief'. Of Not Stealing
Ye should not take a thing, animate or inanimate, big or small, not even a twig to cleanse thy teeth unless given, nor ask another to take it nor approve of it if it is taken.
He who, for his own gain and pleasure, hurteth others and stealeth their property will come to grief in the end. Of Content
As ye get, so ye want : want increaseth with every gain. Ye needed two pieces of gold but now millions satiate ye not.
Possession of numberless mountains of gold and silver satiates not him who wanteth. Want is as endless as space.
Know that this earth with its rice and barley, with its gold and cattle, all put together, will not satisfy a single man. Therefore, practise content.
Better is he who restraineth his self, though giveth no alms, than he who giveth thousands and thousands of cows every month but restraineth not his self. Of Brahmacarya
If ye desire every woman thou see, ye well be without any hold like a sedge, which wavereth at every gust of wind.
He who is engaged in penance, therefore, should not allow himself to look at a woman's shape, beauty, blandishment, laughter, prattle, gesture und glance, nor consider them in mind.
For, of all temptations, the craving for women is the most difficult to overcome, as of all rivers the vaitarini is the most difficult to cross.
Neither deer-skin, nor nakedness, nor matted hair, nor a piece of yellow cloth, nor tonsure can protect a bhiksu of unchaste character.
Not to look at, nor to long for, not to think of, not to talk of, women, these are becoming of meditation of the aryas and are
ays wholesome for those who endeavour for a life of sexual abstinence.
Therefore, whosoever endeavourth for a sexual abstinence