Book Title: Mahavira His Life and Teachings
Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Luzac and Co UK

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Page 109
________________ 102 MAHĀVĪRA : HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS He or she must have to observe certain rules if they desire to go to a sugar-cane plantation or to a garlic field He or she should not go to any place where there are many temptations. A monk must know and avoid five typical offences against the law of right belief. abstention from gross 111-usage of living beings, abstention from grossly lying speech, abstention from gross taking of things not given, limiting one's own desires, keeping uposatha (sabbath), right distribution of alms, etc Karma accumulates energy and automatically works it off without any outside intervention Karma is latent in all actions When the soul by means of austerities and good actions has got rid of ignorance, it attains omniscience. Karma is intimately bound up with the soul Mahāvira's great message to mankind is that birth is nothing, that caste is nothing, and that karma is everything and on the destruction of karma, the future happiness depends Concentration is indispensable for getting equanimity of mind and consequent spiritual illumination We have to contemplate on blissfulness, truthfulness, honesty, chastity, contentedness, purity of body, and purity of mind. There are four ways to meditate on purity of mind. (I) love, (2) love towards the suffering world, (3) love to

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