On Life and Liberation

Author(s): Mukesh Chhajer
Publisher: Mukesh Chhajer

Page 12

On Life and Liberation
steal or use violence to fulfill them but when desires and wants are under control, there would be less of the tendency to lie, steal or use violence. So, all the vratas of Jainism would automatically to some extent manifest in our daily lives without any additional efforts. One should, though, keep in mind that wants and desires need not be merely for material objects. They include desire for name and fame, respect, prestige, power etc. It could be desire of any kind. While putting a limit on the desires and needs is helpful, it is done in a negative sense and leads to suppression of desires, not the separation and freedom from desires. The upvaas in the positive sense is to be free of desires; to transcend the wants and desires. The physical and sensual fast begins the process of developing an understanding of separation between body and soul; however, this process cannot be completed till we go to the next level.
So the body is quiet and still and the senses are under some control, what do we do next? Is the upvaas complete? No, the mind is still free to roam and restless. The food of mind is thoughts; thoughts of passions and possessions. To keep mind still and calm, we have to stop feeding the mind with all sorts of thoughts. This is harder than the other two aspects of upvaas. While one can deny one food for a day or even weeks and may close eyes, ears and mouth for a few hours to prevent them from engaging in unnecessary activities and stay within prescribed physical boundaries of space, possessions and wealth, it is not easy to keep the mind free of thoughts even for a moment. While the physical and sensual upvaas can be attained independently, the mental upvaas cannot be achieved by first attaining some mastery over the other two. To attain mental upvaas, one has to learn to control the flow and direction of thoughts. At the beginning of the mental upvaas, one must mentally start disengaging oneself from the material world. Just as body is not fed the material food, the mind not be fed the