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Individual and Society in Jainism : 109
lying, non-stealing, sexual renunciation, and non-property, forms, at the same time, also the climax of the Pratyakhyānas concerning Samyama. The object is all the same, it is only the stand-point that has changed. For to the duty of omitting objectionable actions as far as they are fit to harm others, is being added the further obligation of omitting them also as far as they are fit to disturb one's own equilibrium and calmness of mind, and to detract one from that religious activity so essential for one's real welfare. Thus the principles of Samyama especially stands in the foreground in such particulars as the absolute prohibition of heavy food, of aphrodisiacs, excessive sleep, sexual activity, intoxicating substances etc. for monks, and in the obligation of laymen to give up some of these things partially and some totally. The explicit command of the Scriptures never to give way to any of the four fundamental passions, viz., anger, pride, deceit, and covetousness, which last includes all kinds of attachment to lifeless as well as living things, and many other regulations, fall likewise under this heading, notwithstanding their being rooted in Ahimsa after all.
Another important expedient of securing one's personal metaphysical advantage in fullest accordance with the laws of ethics, is very closely akin to, and based on, renunciation: I mean Tapa, i.e., austerity, or self-imposed suffering, undertaken for religious reasons. The purpose which the Jaina has in view when practicing austerities, can be understood from the idea that all suffering means a consumption of bad Karma, and the voluntary undergoing of certain hardships has the further advantage of giving, at the same time, valuable assistance in the realisation of the two great principles Ahimsā and Samyama.
To get rid of Karma is, as we saw before, the first step to self-realization, and therewith to the last transcendental bliss. This is the reason why austerity plays such and important part in the life
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