Spiritual Code and Restraints

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 24

become instrumental in causing the violence. He therefore decided to keep mum. The goldsmith asked him again and again, but the Muni would not reply. Since there was no one else present and since no reply was forthcoming from the Muni, the goldsmith concluded that the Muni had somewhere hidden the golden grains. He could not afford to lose the costly grains and therefore decided to use force for getting the same back.
As the normal force did not yield the result, the goldsmith decided to resort to extremely violent means. He brought a moist lace of leather and tightly tied it round the Muni's head. Then he made the Muni to stand under the sun. As the lace began to dry by the sun's heat, it started compressing the Muni's head. The compression went on increasing as the lace got drier. Ultimately, the eyes of the Muni came out on account of too much pressure. The Muni, however, took the pain as a consequence of some evil Karma that had become operative and bore the same with equanimity. That accelerated Nirjarä or the eradication process of Muni's Karma. Thereby, all his Karmas were destroyed and he gained omniscience on the spot.
Meanwhile, the bird could not digest the golden grains and excreted the same. As the goldsmith saw that, he repented for the distress perpetrated by him. That was, however, too late, because Muni's soul had already left the mortal body.
The question may arise what one should do under similar circumstances. Religion expects us not to indulge in violence or to be instrumental to the same by any of our physical or verbal activity. If a person is spiritually oriented, he cannot therefore speak anything that would result in violence to other beings. Metärya Muni could have saved his life as well as that of the bird, if he had fabricated a story acceptable to the goldsmith. That would, however, amount to telling a lie, which the Muni could not do. He therefore decided to sacrifice his life for saving the life of the bird. Some persons may perhaps think this as violence to oneself. But implication of the term applies to the violence caused to others not to oneself. Sacrificing one's own life willingly for saving others is not violence.
In addition to being beneficial, truth has to be nice so as to render it palatable. We come across many cases when people expressing some truth, present it bluntly and at times even bitterly. They seem to think that bitterness is inevitable for stating truth. They have to realize that truth need not be unpleasant. It can be expressed sweetly and nicely. The approach should be Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, which means that what one speaks should be true, beneficial and nice. Prima facie, it may not seem easy to put that into practice. But if a person stays vigilant enough, it would not be hard to do so. The amount of patience and sacrifice, if any, required for the purpose is worthwhile. The spiritual aspirants should particularly put that into practice. Such persons have to overcome the impatience and be prepared for the sacrifice required in observance of truth.
The Pauränic story of king Harishchandra describes how he faced terrible adversities and distress for keeping his word. That story has been considered an ideal for those, who have regard for truth. Mahätmä Gandhi was highly impressed by watching a dramatic version of that story in his childhood. That caught his imagination. He writes in his