Spiritual Code and Restraints

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 27

without authorization. Pocketing it means appropriating something that does not belong to him. Such action therefore amounts to misappropriation.
That is the case of picking up something, which is valuable to the owner. But what about picking up something that the owner thinks of no value and has therefore been discarded? A person may come across something which is discarded by the owner as garbage but which is of use to him. If he therefore picks it up, it is not stealing and the society does not consider it an offense. Jain norm, however, goes ahead of the social norm and lays down that such cases be governed by the restraint of Adattädän. It is a composite term of Adatta and Adän. Adatta means not-offered and Adän means taking. Adattädän therefore denotes taking or picking up anything without being offered by the legitimate owner.
As such, if a person picks up something that is discarded by the owner, that amounts to Adattädän and is therefore forbidden. A spiritual aspirant is supposed to stay away from possessions to the utmost possible extent. The purpose of this restraint is to discourage the temptation of acquiring anything even incidentally. The spiritual aspirant should stay possessionless or should hold the minimum possessions. He is therefore not supposed to accept even a straw of grass, unless the owner specifically offers it. It would thus be seen that Adattädän has a wide connotation and non-stealing is only a part thereof.
Staying without possession or with bare minimum possession is not possible for every one. Jainism therefore lays down the observance of this restraint at two different levels. Monks and nuns, who have renounced the worldly life, need only food, clothing and temporary shelter for survival. They can get food by going for alms, get bare minimum clothes from those, who spontaneously offer the same and stay for the time being in an Upashraya or at other resting place. Total observance of Adattadän is meant for them. For laymen, it is stipulated that they should not gain anything illegitimately. As such, they are not supposed to indulge in burglary, theft, smuggling, adulteration, cheating etc. They should also not enter into any sort of deal with those, who indulge in such activities.
Jain tradition specifies the following five activities as transgressions of this restraint, viz. i) buying, procuring or storing stolen, smuggled or otherwise illicitly acquired articles, ii) supporting or otherwise encouraging stealing, burglary, smuggling etc. iii) adulteration of goods, iv) procuring anything by breach of regulation and v) using inaccurate weights and measures. Other evils like tax evasion, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, draft dodging etc. were not conceived of when these transgressions were framed and are therefore not specified. Such activities are, however, covered therein, because the purpose of this restraint is to see that no one should even try to gain something that is not legitimately permissible. Cheating and deceiving also are transgressions of this restraint and are covered in the third and fifth types respectively.
Deception happens to be covered in the second restraint and may therefore seem to be overlapping. The term has, however, two aspects. A person can indulge in deception either by deceitful words or by undertaking some deceptive activity. The former is generally covered under the second restraint and the latter under the third restraint. For instance, preparing a fake passport or visa constitutes a transgression of the second