Spiritual Code and Restraints

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 21

for the sake of pity. True Ahinsä requires elevation of that sense of pity to the level of sympathy and compassion by developing sensitivity for others. An observer of Ahinsä cannot remain content with not hurting others and stay insensitive to their pain and misery, which may be caused by other factors. The observer of Ahinsä has to develop the sympathetic attitude. He should get rid of the feelings of anger, arrogance, animosity, jealousy and hostility that defile the mind and generate the violent instinct.
Such feelings mainly arise because of wrong perception. During our life we come across different situations from time to time. We happen to perceive some of them as favorable and some as unfavorable. If we perceive any situation as painful, unfavorable and against our interest, we react to that with a sense of dislike, hate, aversion, abhorrence etc. and try to change it to our liking and satisfaction. There is nothing wrong in trying to change it, as long as we do it calmly, peacefully and without hurting others. But if situations do not change favorably, we happen to feel perturbed or distressed and blame or curse the unfavorable situations for that. We may also attribute motives to the persons concerned with those situations and indulge in wrath, anger, animosity and hostility towards them.
We fail to realize that our perception might be wrong. As a matter of fact, the situations that we perceive as painful, might be pleasurable to others. We also fail to understand that we ourselves might be directly or indirectly responsible for such situations. The wrong perception arises because we fail to think dispassionately and also because we might be feeling that our self interest would be at stake, if the situation does not change favorably.
Our concept of self interest, however, happens to be parochial. We therefore nurse grudge for the people whom we perceive as acting against our interest. We fail to realize that the person, against whom we have grudge, may or may not get hurt by our action; but our narrow-mindedness does hurt us by defiling our mind. It is a fact that if we adopt broad and liberal approach, others too tend to reciprocate. The reciprocity is the innate nature of living beings. This is observed even in the case of animals. If we are kind to them, they express, in their own way, the sense of gratitude. Human beings have better and more sensible way to reciprocate. We are, however, prone to forget this aspect and happen to ill-treat other beings. Such hurting amounts to transgressions of this restraint. If we cannot avoid all types of such transgressions, we should at least not get involved in the following types as laid down in Pratikraman Sutra:
Vaha Bandha Chhavichchhea Aibhäre Bhatta Pän Vuchchhea
Padham Vayassaiäre Padikkame Desiam Savvam
It means: Killing, binding, amputation, overloading, depriving from food and drink are the five transgressions of the first restraint. I retreat from indulgence therein.
If we remember that all the living beings have identical souls and all of them are destined to gain liberation sooner or later, our outlook towards them would change. We can then realize that by indulging in defilement towards anyone else, we happen to defile our soul. With that realization, we would develop regard for every soul and stop perceiving any