Practical Path

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

Page 86

NIRJARA.
73
means so much time wasted, but is also fraught with the most harmful consequences. Our investigation into the nature of the bonds which hold us tight in their grip has revealed the fact that they arise only from our own desires, beliefs, passions and the like, and cannot be destroyed, by any possibility, so long as we do not obtain full control on our own actions. The training of the individual will, then, is the only way to salvation, and it is no exaggeration to say that no one who does not seriously take himself in hand has the least shadow of a chance of acquiring the freedom of Gods.
Tapa is of two kinds, bâhya, and antaranga, the one signifying the controlling of body, and the other of mind. The former of these consists in the process of self-restraint, and is of the following six kinds :(i) Anashana, or fasting, the frequent observance
of which is well-caculated to purify the senseorgans, on the one hand, and to lessen the sense of attachment to the objects of bodily
enjoyment on the other. (ii) Avamodarya, or the avoidance of full meals.
The habitual practising of this form of selfrestraint would go a long way towards eradicating laziness from the system and would
impart fresh energy to the mind. (iii) Vrita parisankhyāna, putting restrictions on
begging for food, for instance, taking the vow that nothing would be eaten on a certain day unless it be given by a rájâ, or in golden ves
sels, and so forth. (iv) Raša parityâga, or abstaining from one or