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The Unknown Pilgrims
- Asteya: it is not enough, she says, to refrain from purloining the possessions of others, to refrain from stealing; asteya goes much further it consists as well in not amassing things, keeping more than one needs. All superfluity is a form of steya.57 She knows very well whom she is addressing!
- Brahmacarya: after mentioning the two aspects, the positive and the negative, the mastery of all the senses and healthy work which channels all the energies, she lays great stress on the dignity of manual work. Having followed closely all the activities of Gandhiji, she narrates a few episodes of his life. Then, turning to the men of her audience, she draws their attention to this anomaly: a woman must remain faithful to her husband all her life and a widow is not permitted to re-marry, but a widower may always remarry, why this difference? \This injustice?58
- Aparigraha: on the subject, Mahāsati has so much to say that she devotes to it four pravacanas. Her speech is direct and emphatic, for the spirit of possessiveness, the thirst for money and the accumulation of riches are the root causes of spiritual backsliding and of an enormous amount of social injustice. The more riches one accumulates, the more sins one piles up. She insists over and over again that aparigraha consists in not considering oneself the depositary or guardian of money; rather, having seen to the needs of one's own family members, one must ütilise the surplus to relieve the sufferings of others. Addressing herself to the śrāvikās, she says: "Certain ones of you undertake regular fasts, yet harldy any tangible. spiritual results of them are to be seen. Why is this so? Because you are not detached in spirit. So, while fasting, get rid of any surplus sādis and other things that you keep in your cupboards..." The spirit of possession, she says does not operate solely in relation to money and goods; it has subtle ramifications and is also at the root of intransigent sectarianism, that fury with which each one blindly defends his sect, his guru, his
57 Ibid., ch. 11.
58 Ibid., cf. 12.
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