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Self-restraint: A Must for World Peace : 81 From the present scenario, it is evident that man is after personal profits. He has overlooked his duties and responsibilities towards person, people and planet. Hence, it resulted into all sorts of problems mentioned above. If each person would consider the rights or shares of fellow beings, the gulf between rich and poor would not happen. Today, one crore rich people have more than ten lakh dollars (450 lakhs) while half of the population (3.50 billion) earn two dollars a day. Though our land can fulfill the needs of 11.5 billion people yet 900 million people are living without enough food. The reason is improper distribution. Why unequal distribution of income and wealth, why imbalance in the nature, etc.? The root cause of all these conditions is possessiveness. Possession vs Possessiveness The two words- possession and possessiveness - are to be understood. Possession is the physical property in the form of cash, assets, animal beings, etc that which is tangible. On the other hand, possessiveness is the attachment towards or craving for the possession. As long as possession is considered it is not a great problem. Man needs possession for fulfilling the basic needs such as food, water and some other requirements. But possessiveness is a kind of emotional attitude in the form of greediness, attachment towards what is being possessed and may be for what is being unpossessed. Lord Mahavira defines it as mucchā pariggaho vutto. Due to this carving man's desires are soaring once a single desire is satisfied many other desires rise. That's why it is said in Jaina canons that icchā u āgāsa samā anantiā, that is, wants are endless like the sky.
Possessiveness and Immorality According to Lord Mahavira possessiveness is the root cause of immorality, violence and other evil activities. It can be proved by the following references. 1. Instincts are the basic nature by which the living beings are motivated. In Jain scriptures we come across ten types of instincts
