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SPIRITUAL PRACTICES OF LORD MAHĀ VĪRA
subjected Lord Mahāvīra to many hardships, he fasted for six months, but never felt miserable and begged for alms in that state. This magnificent nature of his, made him manifest infinite spiritual potential and grandeur.
The self-reliance of Lord Mahāvīra indicates that the ultimate truth and refuge can be none other than the self. All other associations and material inclinations are false and keep us deprived of the infinite treasure of bliss that is latent in each one of us and these material attachments are also an hindrance to the manifestation of that perfection.
VIII. UPEKŞĀ i.e. INDIFFERENT ATTITUDE
Meditation means a search for one's true self and this is possible only when we adopt an attitude of indifference towards all external objects and incidents. Being indifferent means being a mere witness to all favourable and unfavourable happenings. Any person thing, or incident tends to become more important when we pay more and more attention to them and only when we adopt an indifferent attitude towards them the self gains prominence and importance. Only then we are able to contemplate on the self and dive deep into its realm. The next question arises that towards which we have to develop an indifferent attitude. Besides our external possessions, Our kith and Kin, body, mind and thoughts are different from our true self, hence Upekṣā means being indifferent to all people, things, circumstances, to one's body and to one's thoughts.
Lord Mahāvīra adopted and developed this attitude of indifference. This inspired him to be more spiritually inclined and the search of the self became extensive. In this context the Āgamas have stated that
"फरिसाइ दुत्तितिक्खाइं अति अच्च मुणी परक्कमाणे । 31UIG-UTE- Tag dsgesig egts l'"
आचारांग प्रथम श्रुत स्कन्ध ९/१/९ ।
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