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The Final Commitment
the dharma, but he does not possess the dharma. In the same way the jñānin does not get attached to adharma (sin), he desires neither food nor drink nor anything whatever. He is altogether free, without attachment.69
355
As a conclusion to this introduction to the mahāvratas,70 we have yet to consider four bhāvanās and to define the true vratin, the one who adheres to his vows in all their implications. The four bhāvanās are the direct consequences of ahimsa, but are of such universal application, so concrete and so positive, that they reflect also all the mahāvratas, summing them up in a powerful manner, embodying and at the same time going beyond the doctrine, while presenting always a joyful, welcoming appearance. These are:
Maitri: friendly benevolence towards all beings, along with the sincere desire that they should be purified from sin and freed from suffering and that they should reach Liberation.
Pramoda: the joy experienced from contact with those who are already well-advanced on the path. This consists both in rejoicing in their holiness and surrounding them with respect and affection, while putting oneself at their service.
Karuṇā: sympathy for the despised, the suffering, the hungry, those afflicted in any way and a desire to help towards the alleviation of their sufferings.
Jain Education International
69 Cf. SamSa 207-216.
70 We may add that DS IV, 16 gives a 6th mahāvrata: ratri-bhojanaviramaņa, abstention from food after dusk, which in fact comes under the heading of ahimsa and is an unquestioned duty for the sadhvis. One must in this regard go back in imagination to a time when electricity did not exist - and indeed to this day in many villages it is not yet available. When there is only a flickering lamp, insects congregate around it the more easily and can be destroyed or fall into the food; furthermore, in the near-darkness one may easily accept and consume impure food-stuffs. The sadhvis take their last light meal before sunset, while the aryikäs in any case consume only one meal a day in the morning.
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