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66: śramaņa, Vol 63, No. 3, July-Sep. 2012 his own material possessions and should resist all temptations. One may keep wealth and commodities to satisfy one's requirements but should not engross oneself in the pursuit of material gain. At the same time, one should rise above prejudice, jealousies, greed, vanity, fear, hatred, susceptibility etc.23 Economic inequality and vast difference in the mode of consumption are the two causes of our age. These disturb our social harmony and class-conflicts. Among the causes of economic inequality, the will for possession, occupation or hoarding is the prime. Accumulation of wealth on the one side and the lust of worldly enjoyment on the other are jointly responsible for the emergence of present day materialistic consumer culture. These problems can be solved by practicing the fifth minor vow aparigrahāņuvrata or by limiting our possessions and attachment to those possessions.
The aṇuvratas are of course closely parallel to the five mahāvratas (meant especially for monks); and it is therefore not surprising that some writers have imitated the Daśavaikālika-sūtra which counts a-rātri-bhojana as sixth mahāvrata, that of a-rātri-bhojana- in the aņuvratas. In fact this sixth aņuvrata is noted by Cāmundarāya24 So Rātribhojana-tyāga can be taken as 6th aņuvrata which is equally important Samantabhadras defines abstention from rātri-bhojana as the abandonment of the fourfold ailments by night out of compassion for living beings. The simple logic behind this vrata was that at night almost anything- small insects (tini caturindriya-jīvas) like moths, snakes, mice, bits of bones, skin, or hairs- may fall into the platter which ultimately cause diseases. This also shows the Jain ācārya's concern over the health of human being and solution thereof by suggesting to avoide night meal. Thus, if the aņuvratas were practised properly, it would prevent that ruthless and lustful competition for wealth and empire which is the bane of the present age. When we observe and follow the theory of pañca-aņuvratas, then we know co-operation among living beings
