Universal Message of Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Dulichand Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 68

PART - II
APPENDICES
These are extracts put together from talks on different aspects of Jainology in meetings and seminars. Some of these have been condensed, edited and published in the Chennai edition of esteemed national dailies. Here, they have been reproduced to provide a better understanding of the Jaina dictum to the reader.
Appendix I
Four powerful Enemies of Man*
Though a man has to fight against many enemies within, four among them are powerful. They are: anger, pride, deceit and greed. He can put an end to the first one, anger, by being straightforward and the last of them, greed, by developing detachment.
Desire being insatiable, even if a person possesses enormous wealth it will mean nothing for him. To curb the influence of the internal foes the mind should be filled with auspicious thoughts of non-violence, self-control and austerities. Hence, it is necessary for a man to train himself to give up attachment. As the consequences of actions pursue a doer, he should suffer the misery by himself and others cannot share it. The soul within behaves like a friend when righteous acts are performed and as an enemy when unethical deeds are resorted to.
The above statements form part of the teachings of Jainism. They are in the form of aphorisms. In a lecture when a book on
* The Hindu, 22 March 1994