Book Title: Mahavira Life and Philosophy
Author(s): Sumeruchand Diwakar Shastri
Publisher: Jain Mitra Mandal

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Page 30
________________ 8 garments and had renounced all material possessions in consonance with his vow of complete non-injury. It must be borne in mind that Mahavira's Ahimsa was not the absence of physical violence only but mental attitude as well. This internal purity will be a mere prattle of an indolent, unless it is associated with the life of supreme compassion towards all creatures. Both must go hand in hand. If we want polished rice, we will have to first remove the husk from the paddy and then only we will be in a position to cleanse it of its internal impurity; likewise the outward causes of the impurity of mind should be first cautiously warded off. It is practically impossible for a wicked vicious and licentious person to keep his mental purity unperturbed. In his Tiruk-kural Acharya Kunda Kunda Says, "The essential nature of true penance consists of not to possess anything Even a simple single material possession will engender impurity and imperceptible attachment for property. Only those, who have completely renounced all possessions, will reach the highest goal of life-Moksha. On the other hand, others with attachment get entangled in the net of transmigration." The liberator of India, Gandhiji remarked once; "I aspire to be a nude monk. In fact one must be physically and mentally nude. Such a person will freely move like a bird without any habitation, without clothing in the 'Awadhuta state"." He also added, "Real reform and civilization do not consist in increasing worldly belongings; on the other hand

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