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144
THE WAY OF LIFE
marry such a man, you will have to repent later. Your life will be ruined. You will not be happy with him. suffer a lot. He will ask you to drink wine. wine? He will ask you to eat eggs with him. eggs?"
You will have to Will you drink Will you eat
hope you will give such a warning to your daughter. If she abides by your advice it is good, if not let her know it herself. The possibility is that when the jivatma is under the influence of some attachment or passion, he or she may not appreciate well-meant advice and may not be able to see the truth. Well, it is left to them to accept or to reject your advice. But your duty is to show the right way.
The parity of purity is an absolute necessity in married life. Both the husband and the wife should abstain from meat-eating and wine-drinking. The third principle of purity is that both of them should abstain from eating food in the right.
THE SIN OF EATING FOOD IN THE NIGHT
Even eating food in the night is a sin. Do you know this? It is not only the Jain Dharma that prohibits eating food in the night; even the Vedic Dharma prohibits eating food in the night. The Dharmashastras and spiritual heads may prohibit eating food in the night but will you abstain from eating food in the night? "Eating food in the night is a great sin". Do you accept this great truth seriously? In which family do people not eat food in the night? What is the percentage of families in our society that do not eat food in the night? In the Jain society, the Sadhus and Sadhvis of all the denominations and traditions do not take food in the night. They renounce food in the night. You cannot find a single Sadhu or Sadhvi amongst Jains who eats food or drinks water, in the night. Why has this fashion of eating food in the night become so widespread among Jains now-a-days?
At present, we should look for the parity of purity between the bride and the bride-groom. That means, both of them should have renounced food in the night. But the situation is completely opposite to this. Both men and women eat food in
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