The success of the control of nature's finer forces that are not
generally known, depends upon chastity.
The success of "mantras" (i.e. spells) also
depends entirely upon chastity. It is not the vibrations of the sound (pudgala
vibrating) only that give effectiveness to "mantra"; one's mental
activity, and one's life as a whole all go to produce a compound
vibration, which can be sent to and felt by a being in the higher realms.
The mental state is more important than the vibrations of the sound.
There are a number of worldly disadvantages: you lose
and squander your money; you lose sight of your better desires; you lose
respect for your spiritual superiors; ;you lose faith in the scriptures;
you cannot perform good actions; you cannot go to the " Deva "
state after death, etc., if there is excessive indulgence.
The science of breath teaches that in every activity
you have to use the force of breath, which force is measured by the number
of breaths spent; and it is the subtle breath, not the ordinary breath,
that is now meant.
In the state of concentration, according to the Jain
teaching, if you spend four breaths, then in good thoughts you spend six;
in sitting in silence, you spend ten, in speaking, twelve; in sleeping
sixteen; in walking, twenty-two; and in sexual intercourse, you spend
thirty-six of the subtle breaths. That is the Jain view.
The next thing, therefore, to consider is avoiding
giving up this passion, 1) entirely, and 2) partially. Entire control is
adopted by the monks; but the layman, practicing the moderate degree of
self-control previously mentioned, is not able to avoid it entirely, and
so the question arises as to the means he can adopt to avoid the passion
as much as possible. The fourth vow is the means. The fourth vow is in
Sanskrit "sva-dara-santosa, paradara-viramana." There are
two parts here: the first part means being satisfied with one's own wife,
the second part means not going with the wife of another. The layman may
take either of these parts, or both.
He may also undertake to try and avoid speaking or
thinking it and to use care in the matter of dreams. Also he may undertake
not to marry again; also to exercise absolute chastity in the day time,
and to try and observe the following nine rules to help him to keep the
vow. They form as it were a hedge to keep one away from injury in this
direction:
-
Living in such a way that he does not have physical
contact all the time with a woman: it excites the passion. Also living
in a building where there are no neuter human beings or female animals.
-
Not indulging in lustful conversation or stories.
-
Not sitting for some time where a woman sat.
-
Not looking at women lustfully.
-
Not remaining in a room with thin walls, next to one
where a married couple are sleeping.
-
He should not bring to mind the enjoyment of former
days.
-
Avoiding foods which excite.
-
Not gorging himself with even non-stimulating food.
-
He should not embellish (decorate) his body.
PARTIAL TRANSGRESSIONS
-
Any artificial gratification.
-
Giving away another person's daughter in marriage.
-
Constantly looking with a lustful eye at women; also
using medicine when weak.
-
There are also other ways of partially transgressing
the vow.
Although the wording here is applied to men, the same
rules applied to women hold good; to be satisfied with one's own husband;
avoiding other women's husbands, etc.
FIFTH VOW (Sthula-Parigraha-Parimana Vrata)
Undertaking to limit one's possessions.
It is the limitation of the desire to possess property
and hence of actual possession. If this desire is uncontrolled, it is
limitless. To limit the desire is to partially control it. A person may
possess without desiring to possess. It is the desire for things that are
not ourselves that is meant, and not desire for kind-heartedness, wisdom
knowledge. The real self is different from the body, and from material
things. The real self does not take on what belongs not to it, and does
not give up what belongs to it by nature. The desire for possession is the
false identification of the real self with material things; and as soon as
this is realized, the person will begin to remove the desire by limiting
the quantity of his material possessions. To satisfy the desire for
possession, we have to engage in some kind of activity not natural to the
pure soul, and this activity is such that foreign energies and unnatural
impelling forces are generated. By limiting the desire to possess, we get
contentment and steadiness.
Non-limitation is the same thing as unsteadiness; it is
like the butterfly life.
These teachings have been handed down from ancient
times, when property was classified in the following way; and in limiting
the quantity we will possess as our own, we may use this old method of
classification of things, and limit the things in each class:
-
Things which can be sold by number, such as melons.
-
Things which can be sold by weight, such as sugar,
drugs.
-
Things which can be sold by measure, such as oil,
milk.
-
By testing, such as gold.
-
Different kinds of grades of property, land,
buildings, metals, animals.
PARTIAL TRANSGRESSIONS
If we keep as our own more than the specified quantity
of the things limited, we break the vow; and subterfuges, etc., would be
partial transgressions; for instance, if we keep excess grain with some
one else; or make a gold ring into a tie pin, because the number of gold
rings is reached.
These first five vows are the minor vows in comparison
with the vow of the monk; which are called great vows, and are these same
five in a strict and literal sense, no killing whatever, lying, stealing,
sex passion, or property; that is, full protection to all life; true
speech only; perfect honesty; absolute chastity; and no property possessed
as his own; he may have a few things without any desire to possess them,
as has already been mentioned.
The next three vows (gunavrata) help and support
the first five.
SIXTH VOW (Dig-:arimana Vrata)
The sixth vow is the limitation of the area in which
you will live, including all directions of motion, up, down, sideways,
etc. It is the limitation of the distance, up to which and not beyond
which you will go, or send your men.
This vow helps the first five. You proclaim to all
beings, living beyond the specified area, that you will not hurt them.
By developing the faculty of psychic knowledge, we can
know what is going on abroad, without actually going there.
PARTIAL TRANSGRESSIONS
If we transgress the limits by forgetfulness, or by
accident, or by subterfuge, it is partial transgression of the vow. If we
otherwise go beyond the limits, it is breaking the vow.
SEVENTH VOW (Bhogopabhoga-Parimana Vrata)
It is the limitation of the quantity of things we will
use, whether it be things that can be enjoyed many times, such as
furniture, pictures, persons of the opposite sex, cloths, ornaments,
houses, bedding, carriages, etc., or whether it be things that can only be
used once, such as cake, foods, drinks, flowers, etc. This helps the first
five vows.
This vow includes the limitation of the activities we
will engage in to get the things we use. So there are two divisions in
this vow.
-
With regard to the things that we eat. If a layman
can, he should use only things which are inanimate. If he cannot, then
he will have to use things that are animate; but he should limit them in
number, quantity, weight, etc. He should give up flesh foods; vegetables
in which there are infinite lives in the one body, such as carrots,
potatoes, turnips, things that grow underground; also unknown fruit,
decomposed food, honey, spirits, and eating at night.
-
With regard to the activities that a layman should
engage in, in order to obtain the things he uses, they should be
faultless, sinless, but not sinless in the Christian sense; sin here
means sin against one's own soul, obstructing its virtues. If he is
unable to avoid sinless businesses, then he should give up such trades
as involve cruelty to animals.
Such businesses, as the following fifteen, should not
be followed by those who have taken the seventh vow:
-
Making and selling charcoal.
-
Agriculture, horticulture, or gardening,
-
Making and selling carts, etc., or driving vehicles,
belong to oneself.
-
Driving or plying other people's vehicles, either as
a servant, or hired.
-
Blasting rocks, digging mines, ploughing etc.
-
Ivory business, necessitating the killing of
elephants.
-
Lac, or any similar substance. Insects get caught in
it.
-
Liquids, for the same reason.
-
Poison.
-
Fur, hair.
-
Milling or water-pumping; fish get killed in large
quantities.
-
Castrating.
-
Burning or cutting green forests, fields, etc.
-
Drying lakes, ponds, or reservoirs; the fish are
killed.
-
Bringing up women for immoral purposes, or animals
for nay cruel purpose, in order to make money.
