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Sugandha: Sweet Fragrance
605
Uijvala Våni, a brief survey
The series of pravacanas opens with the following topics, each topic being the subject of one talk: - Victory over the passions. - The importance of good company and good reading. - How to perfect and enhance one's life. - The spirit of service.
She then broaches the important subject of the aņuvratas or small vows, the same in content as the mahāvratas of the ascetics,but implemented to a lesser degree.
- Ahimsā: Mahāsati points out that, before being attentive in relation to insects, one must first be attentive in relation to human beings; that to lie is also a form of himsă and she goes on to say: "None of you, surely, would eat mutton, even if you were offered a considerable sum of money, and yet would you not be willing to lie for a very small sum? Certainly this is proof that you attach importance only to the outer aspect of ahimsa." She then continues by indicating in concrete terms what is meant by inner ahiṁsā. She lays great stress on the way men and women servants should be treated: not to demand from them extra hours of work, to give proper remuneration to them, to look to their work-conditions and to see that they receive medical help. Shel insists on the positive aspects of ahiṁsā.55
- Satya: to this, because it is of vital consequence, she attaches such importance that three pravacanas are devoted thereto. She begins by drawing attention to the fact that satya is a constitutive dimension of the human person. By means of several examples she reminds her hearers that satya is not restricted to one compartment; it issues from the mind, from speech and from action. Satya is quite as essential as prāņa, the breath of life, 56
55 Ujjvala Vāņi, 1965, (pravacanas of 1948) ch.7.
56 Ibid., chs. 8-10.
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