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For lay persons, the concept of aparigraha is not to suffer from shortages or unreasonable denial of one's legitimate needs appropriate to one's station in life, but to develop the spirit of detachment from unrestrained desires and accumulative outlook. Renunciation is not measured by the quantum of one's possessions. It is determined by the attitude of dispossession and detachment towards one's possessions. Mahavir laid down the standards governing desires and prescribed the limits of consumption. As detailed in previous chapters, the five anuvratas are abstinence from unnecessary violence, abstinence from such acts of falsehood as may lead to the destruction of any property, taking away thing not given, illicit sexual relationship, and acquiring wealth and other possessions beyond a limit.
The seven supplementary vows are refraining from movement bevond a limited area, restricting movement to an even more limited area, refraining from wanton destruction of the environment by thought, word or deed, keeping aloof from sinful conduct for a set period of time, fasting on sacred days, not eating after sunset, limiting the use of consumable and non-consumable goods, observing special restrictions at secluded places and offerings to wandering ascetics. Proceeding on the path of Aparigraha needs tremendous restraint and formidable will-power. The great Jain sage Kundakundacharya observes in SAMAYA SAAR:
“Howsoever much you might consume, the urge and craving for more never leaves you, much like the insect which goes on sucking contaminated
blood till it dies." Swami Samantabhadra writes in the Jain holy text “Ratnakarand Shravakachar :
“Just as the fire is never satisfied with any quantity of wood,
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