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Vada ] Nihnavavāda
: 287 : D. C. When you believe that whatever happens to be the cause of morcchā is parigraha, and hence should be renounced, how is it that body and food etc. of one attacked by delusion is considered as a-parigraha according to you ? For, if they happen to be parigraha they should be abandoned. But garments etc. of an ascetic, absolutely alone by himself, are not as causes of parigraha to him. If you say that there is no attachment for body etc. as they happen to be the necessary instruments for attaining Moksı, then clothes etc. should also be taken as instruments for attaining Mokşa. There is no reason to take them as objects of morcchā. When you attach delusion into clothes etc. that are far less important and that are easily susceptible to the attacks of fire, thief etc , and that are destructible in a short time, there is certainly all the more reason to attach delusion into body etc., that are more precious and more lastirg than clothes etc.
* Secondly, if you say that delusion with regard to body etc. is very slight, and that with regards to clothes etc., is great, and therefore naked ascetics will attain Moksa in spite of their attachment into body etc., while those like us having clothes etc. will not attain Mokşa, then, you should note that the tiryancas ( beasts and birds ) and the savage tribes of Bhils etc., who do not put on clothes etc. but who are attached only to body, and food etc., frequently attain hell. Persons suffering from poverty have to undergo ceaseless chain of Karman, on account of their souls being unrestrained due to their vices in the past life.
On the other hand, great ascetics etc , attain Mokşa of Ab solute Perception in spite of their being adorned by costly ornaments on the occasion of upasarga (a natural phenomenon supposed to forbode future evil). It should, therefore, be borne in mind, that mere renunciation of clothes does not help if the soul is impure. 13-18. (2562–2567)
Then, in reply to the assertion that the wearing of clothes etc., should be given up as that, sometimes, causes fear eto., the Acarya states---
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