Mahavira Life and Philosophy

Author(s): Sumeruchand Diwakar Shastri
Publisher: Jain Mitra Mandal

Page 31

they depend upon intentional and wilful curtailment of one's possessions. Peace and contentment thrive in proportion to the abandonment of material objects. This also develops the capacity to render service".
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Nudity and purity-
It is to be noted that nudity is not an end in itself. Mental purity is most essential, without which mere nudity cannot save the soul from the woes and sufferings of transmigration. Acharya Kunda Kunda in his Bhava-Pahuda clarifies this point in these significant words: "Outworldly all are naked, the entire group of the denizens of hell, the subhuman beings are nude. But they do not attain the mental purity of noble saints due to inner ignoble and impure dispositions."
"If a nude person is devoid of purity of mind and self-control he will endure sufferings and will wander in the ocean of mundane existence. He will never be blessed with inner illumination (67-68)".
"It is mental purity whereby the happiness of heaven and the bliss of beatitude are achieved. The ascetic devoid of mental purity is polluted by karmic filth and he is reborn as a beast (74)". The rationale of renunciation
It may be said that if every type of spiritual progress depends upon purity of disposition, what is the utility of abandoning external objects ?
This point has been clarified by the author of Samayasara in these significant words: Thought