Jina Sutra – Quotations

JINA SUTRA

“There’s no knowledge without right faith,

No conduct is possible without knowledge,

Without conduct, there’s no liberation,

And without liberation, no deliverance.”

Mahavira (UTTARADHYAYANA SUTRA, CH. 27, VERSE 30)

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‘Endowed with conduct and discipline,

Who practices control of self,

Who throws out all his bondage,

He attains the eternal place.”

Mahavira (UTTARADHYAYANA SUTRA, CH. 20, VERSE 52)

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All unenlightened persons produce sufferings. Having become deluded,

they produce and reproduce sufferings, in this endless world.

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 6/1)

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Just as a threaded (sasutra) needle is secure from being lost,

in the same way a person given to self-study (sasutra) cannot be lost.

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 29/59)

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Only that science is a great and the best of all sciences,

the study of which frees man from all kinds of miseries.

Mahavira (Isibhasiya, 7/1)

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That with the help of which we can know the truth,

control the restless mind, and purify the soul is called knowledge.

Mahavira (Mulachara, 5/70)

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That which subdues passions, leads to beatitude

and fosters friendliness is called knowledge.

Mahavira (Mulachara 5/71)

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The unenlightened takes millions of lives

to extirpate the effects of karma whereas a man

possessing spiritual knowledge and discipline

obliterates them in a single moment.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 10)

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The nights that have departed will never return.

They have been wasted by those given to adharma (unrighteousness).

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 14/25)

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The nights that have departed will never return.

They are profitable for one who is given to dharma (righteousness).

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 14/25)

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Those who are ignorant of the supreme purpose of life will

never be able to attain nirvana (liberation) in spite of their

observance of the vratas (vows) and niymas (rules) of religious conduct

and practice of shila (celibacy) and tapas (penance).

Mahavira (Samayasara, 153)

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My soul characterised by knowledge and faith is alone eternal.

All other phases of my existence to which I am attached are

external occurrences that are transitory.

Mahavira (Niyamasara, 99)

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Righteousness consists in complete self-absorption and in

giving up all kinds of passions including attachment.

It is the only means of transcending the mundane existence.

The Jinas have said so.

(Bhava-pahuda, 83)

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Don’t kill any living beings. Don’t try to rule them.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 4/23)

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The essence of all knowledge consists in not committing violence.

The doctrine of ahimsa is nothing but the observance of equality i.e.

the realization that just as I do not like misery, others also do not like it.

(Knowing this, one should not kill anybody).

Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga, 1/1/4/10)

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Just as you do not like misery, in the same way others also do not like it.

Knowing this, you should do unto them what you want them to do unto you.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 780)

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To kill any living being amounts to killing one self.

Compassion to others is compassion to one’s own self.

Therefore one should avoid violence like poison and thorn (that cause pain).

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 797)

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Don’t be proud if you gain. Nor be sorry if you lose.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 2/4/114, 115)

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One who cultivates an attitude of equality towards all living beings,

mobile and stationary, can attain equanimity. Thus do the kevalis say.

Mahavira (Anuyogadvar, 708, gatha 2)

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Only the one who has transcended fear can experience equanimity.

Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga 1/2/2/17)

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(One should reflect thus:) Let me treat all living beings with eqanimity and

none with enmity. Let me attain samadhi (tranquility) by becoming

free from expectations.

Mahavira (Mulachara, 2/42)

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Let me renounce the bondage of attachment and hatred,

pride and meekness, curiosity, fear, sorrow, indulgence and

abhorrence (in order to accomplish equanimity).

Mahavira (Mulachara 2/44)

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Let me give up attachment through unattachment.

My soul will be my only support (in this practice of unattachment).

(Hence) let me give up everything else.

Mahavira (Mulachara 2/44)

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Just as I do not like misery, so do others. Knowing this, one neither kills,

nor gets killed. A sramana is so called becasue he behaves equanimously.

Mahavira (Anuyogadvara, 708, gatha 3)

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One who remains equanimous in the midst of pleasures and pains

is a sramana, being in the state of pure consciousness.

Mahavira (Pravachansara, 1/14)

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A sramana devoid of the knowledge of Agama

does neither know himself, nor others.

Mahavira (Pravasanasara, 3/32)

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Other beings perceive through their senses whereas

the sramana perceives through the Agama.

Mahavira (Pravachansara, 3/34)

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One devoted whole-heartedly to knowledge, faith and right conduct

equally accomplishes in full the task of the sramana.

Mahavira (Pravachansara, /42)

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O Self ! Practice Truth, and nothing but Truth.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 3/3/66)

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Enlightened by the light of Truth, the wise transcends death.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 3/3/66)

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Truth alone is the essence in the world.

Mahavira (Prasnavyakarna, 2/2)

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The ascetic who never thinks of telling a lie out of attachment,

aversion or delusion is indeed the practiser of the second vrata of truthfulness.

Mahavira (Niyamasara, 57)

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A truthful man is treated as reliable as the mother,

as venerable as the guru (preceptor) and as beloved

as the one who commands knowledge.

Mahavira (Mulachara, 837)

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Truthfulness indeed is tapa (penance).

In truthfulness do reside self-restraint and all other virtues.

Just as the fish can live only in the sea,

so can all other virtues reside in Truthfulness alone.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 842)

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One may have a tuft or matted hair on the head or a shaven head,

remain naked or wear a rag.

But if he tells a lie, all this is futile or fruitless.

Mahavira (Bhagavat Aradhana, 843)

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One can bear all kinds of unbearable pain

caused by spikes in expectation of wealth etc.

But he alone who tolerates, without any motive of worldly gain,

harsh words spoken to him is venerable.

Mahavira (Dasavaikalika, 9/3/6)

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One should not speak unless asked to do so.

He should not disturb others in conversation.

He should not back-bite and indulge in fraudulent untruth.

Mahavira (Dasavaikalika, 8/46)

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One should not utter displeasing words

that arouse ill feelings in others.

One should not indulge in speech conducive to the evil.

Mahavira (Dasavaikalika , 8/47)

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Discipline of speech consists in refraining

from telling lies and in observing silence.

Mahavira (Mulachara, 332)

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The sadhaka (one who practices spiritual discipline)

speaks words that are measured and beneficial to all living beings.

Mahavira (Kartikeyanupreksa, 334)

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The bhiksu (ascetic) should not be angry with one who abuses him.

Otherwise he would be like the ignoramus.

He should not therefore lose his temper.

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 2/24)

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If somebody were to beat a disciplined and restrained ascetic,

the latter should not think of avenging himself considering

the soul to be imperishable.

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 2/27)

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As gold does not cease to be gold even if it is heated in the fire;

an enlightened man does not cease to be enlightened on

being tortured by the effects of karma.

Mahavira (Samayasara, 184)

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A thief feels neither pity nor shame,

nor does he possess discipline and faith.

There is no evil that he cannot do for wealth.

Mahavira (Bhagavat Aradhana, 862)

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On the aggravation of one’s greed,

a person fails to distinguish between what should be done and

what should not be done. He is dare-devil who can commit

any offence even at the cost of his own life.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 857)

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By practicing celibacy one can fulfil all other vows – chastity,

tapas (penance), vinaya (humility), sayyama (self-restraint),

forgiveness, self-protection and detachment.

Mahavira (Prasnavyakarana, 9/3)

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Knowing that pleasing sound, beauty, fragrance,

pleasant taste and soothing touch are transitory transformations of matter,

the celibate should not be enamoured of them.

Mahavira (Dasavaikalika, 8/58)

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The soul is the Brahman. Brahmacarya is therefore nothing but

spiritual conduct of the ascetic concerning the soul,

who has snapped out of relationship with alien body.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 877)

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An amorous person, failing to achieve his desired objects,

becomes frantic and even ready to commit suicide by any means.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 889)

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The sun scorches only during the day,

but cupid scorches in the day as well as in the night.

One can protect oneself from the sun, but cannot from cupid.

Mahavira (Bhagavti Aradhana)

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The more you get, the more you want.

The greed increases with the gain.

What could be accomplished by two masas (grams) of gold

could not be done by ten millions.

Mahavira (Uttaradhyayana, 8/17)

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Knowing that the earth with its crops of rice and barley,

with its gold and cattle, and all this put together will not satisfy

one single man, one should practice penance.

Mahavira (Uttardhyayana, 9/49)

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Just as fire is not quenched by the fuel and

the ocean by thousands of rivers,

similarly no living being is satisfied even with all the

wealth of all the three worlds.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 1143)

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Non-possessiveness controls the senses

in the same way as a hook controls the elephant.

As a ditch is useful for the protection of a town,

so is non-attachment for the control of the senses.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 1168)

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Greed even for a piece of straw,

not to speak of precious things, produces sin.

A greedless person, even if he wears a crown, cannot commit sin.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 1371)

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One who, being swayed by wishful thinking,

becomes a victim of passions at every step,

and does not ward off the desires, cannot practice asceticism.

Mahavira (Dasavaikalika, 2/1)

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External renunciation is meaningless

if the soul remains fettered by internal shackles.

Mahavira (Bhava-pahuda, 13)

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Living beings have desires. Desires consist in pleasure and pain.

Mahavira (Kartikeyanupreksa, 18/14)

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One who is constantly careful in his deportment is like the

lily in the pond, untarnished by mud.

Mahavira (Pravachansara, 3/18)

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Objects of the senses pollute knowledge

if it is not protected by discipline.

Mahavira (Shila-pahuda, 2)

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Discipline is the means of achieving liberation.

Mahavira (Shila-pahuda, 20)

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Even the noble becomes mean in the company of the wicked,

as precious necklace on the neck of a dead body.

Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 245)

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The ignoramus is always benighted.

The enlightened is always wide awake.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 3/1)

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The five senses of the awakened always remain inactive.

The five senses of the unawakened always remain active.

By means of the active five one acquires bondage while by

means of the inactive five the bondage is severed.

Mahavira (Isibhasiyam, 29/2)

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Just as every body keeps away from the burning fire,

so do the evils remain away from an enlightened person.

Mahavira (Isibhasiya, 35/23)

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Keep yourself always awake.

One who keeps awake increases his wisdom.

He who falls asleep in wretched. Blessed is he who keeps awake.

Mahavira (Brhatkalpa-bhasya, 3387)

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The yogin who is indifferent to worldly affairs remains

spiritually alert to his own duty, namely, his duty towards his soul.

On the other hand, one who indulges in worldly affairs is not dutiful to his soul.

Mahavira (Moksha-pahuda, 31)

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Birth is attended by death, youth by decay and fortune by misfortune.

Thus everything in this world is momentary.

Mahavira (Kartikeyanupreksa, 5)

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The courageous as well as the cowardly must die.

When death is inevitable for both,

why should not one welcome death smilingly and with fortitude?

Mahavira (Mulachara, 2/100)

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Both the righteous and unrighteous must die.

When death is inevitable for both,

when should not one embrace death while maintaining good conduct?

Mahavira (Mulachara, 2/101)

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There is nothing as fearful as death, and there is no suffering as great as birth.

Be free from the fear of both birth and death,

by doing away with attachment to the body.

Mahavira (Mulachara, 2/119)

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Do not be in dread of the dreadful, the illness,

the disease, the old age, and even the death or any other object of fear.

Mahavira (Prasnavyakarana, 7/20)

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The non-vigilant has fear from all directions.

The vigilant has none from any.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 3/75)

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One who entertains fear finds himself lonely (and helpless).

Mahavira (Prasnavyakarana, 7/20)

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The valiant does not tolerate indulgence, nor does he tolerate abhorrence.

As he is pleased with his own self, he is not attached to anything.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 2/6/160)

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As a tortoise withdraws his limbs within his own body,

even so does the valiant withdraw his mind within himself from all sins.

He also withdraws his hands, legs, mind, sense-organs, sinful moods,

evil words, pride, and deceitfulness. This indeed is the valor of the valiant.

Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga, 1/8/16-18)

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The enlightened should contemplate that his soul is

endowed with boundless energy.

Mahavira (Niyamasara, 96)

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Only that man can take a right decision,

whose soul is not tormented by the afflictions of attachment and aversion.

Mahavira (Isibhasiyam, 44/1)

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One who knows the spiritual (self) knows the external (world) too.

He who knows the external world, knows the self also.

Mahavira (Acaranga, 1/7/147)

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If one’s vision is capable of expelling the darkness,

he would not need a lamp. Likewise the soul itself being blissful,

there is no need of external object for bliss.

Mahavira (Pravachansara, 1/67)

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Those who are interested in worldly objects

have of necessity misery in them. If there were no misery in them,

they would not indulge in those objects.

Mahavira (Pravachansara, 1/84)

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I condemn what is worthy of condemnation.

I censure what is worthy of censure.

I atone for all the outer and inner encroachments on the soul.

Mahavira (Mulachara 2/55)

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May the state of Arhats, the Siddhas and the Vitranagas be my goal.

Mahavira (Mulachara, 2/107)

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As the fire quickly consumes dry wood,

even so an adept whose soul is equipoised and unattached

causes the accumulated karma structure to disintegrate

Mahavira (Acaranga, 4/3/33)

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Those who hanker after pleasure,

those who are attached to or seized by passions and are obstinate like miser,

cannot know the nature of samadhi (self-concentration).

Mahavira (Sutrakrtanga, 1/2/58)

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A monk engrossed in meditation renounces all evils.

Meditation is therefore the best way of regression from all transgressions.

Mahavira (Niyamasara, 65)

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One who meditates on the soul, attains the supreme samadhi.

(Niyamasara, 129)

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The monk who is absorbed in meditation achieves victory

over attachment and aversion, and the senses.

His fear vanishes and his passions are shattered.

Finally, he extirpates his indulgences, abhorrence and delusion.

Mahavira

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“The Arhats of the past, those of the present and the future narrate thus,

discourse thus, proclaim thus, and affirm thus: One should not injure,

subjugate, enslave, torture or kill any animal, living being,

organism or sentient being. This doctrine of Non-Violence (Ahimsa Dharma)

is immaculate, immutable and eternal.”

Mahavira (ACHARANGA SUTRA, CH. 4)

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“Above, below and in front, people indulge in violent activities

against living beings individually and collectively in many ways;

discerning this, a wise man neither himself inflicts violence on these bodies,

nor induces others to do so, nor approved of their doing so. ”

Mahavira (ACHARANGA SUTRA, CH. 1)

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“The Arhats have propounded the doctrine of Non-Violence, one and all, equally for those who are desirous to practice it and those who are not, those who have abandoned violence and those who have not, those who are deeply engrossed in worldly ties and those who are not. This doctrine of Ahimsa is Truth. It is rightly enunciated here in the teachings of the Arhats. Comprehending the true spirit of the doctrine, one should practice it till one’s last breath.”

Mahavira (ACHARANGA SUTRA, CH. 4)

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Let the whole world he illumined with the divine light of the soul,

And the thirst of all be quenched with the nectar of joy.

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Victory to you oh, omniscient being, you are eternal and all consciousness.

You are indivisible and a mass of bliss, a strong fire to destroy delusions.

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Burning all attachments and unnatural inclinations,

you have become passionless.

You are without any conflict, have no foundation,

devoid of attachments and formless.

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Always enjoying the everlasting bliss, you are happy in your own existence.

You are the garland of the heart of lady of liberation, always attuned to thyself.

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Oh Lord, this ocean of the world is very deep and

we are flowing in it without any support.

I have never known my own being and the fundamentals leading to liberation.

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I always thought of them as very different from what they are,

Regarding soul as physical form considering both one and the same.

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I indulged in merits and demerits, which are a mine of miseries,

And regarded demerits as undesirables and merits as desirables.

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Blissful spiritual activities were regarded by me as painful.

I only craved for sensual pleasures and regarded them as conducive

to happiness.

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I never liked abstinence; how could the fire of sensual joys be extinguished ?

Worldly pleasures are all disturbing and in reality lead to great unhappiness.

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I craved for these day and night, how could worldly bondage be removed ?

I thought that non-self entities of this existence cause grief and joy in life.

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I offered charity, but with pride, never cared for its consequences.

I worshipped you for worldly gains,

how could this mundane existence be annihilated ?

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I have known your noble attributes today and consider myself to be fortunate.

Discrimination, with which I have known your divine being, has risen in me.

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You never do or undo things, you only know them, as they are.

You don’t give anything to your devotees, only make them like your self.

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I heard of this glory of yours, that whoever knows you,

Attains complete omniscience and becomes perfect and supreme.

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All others are full of’ troubles, only our own abode is full of joy.

I only have one desire, Oh Jinendra, I should realise my own self.

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I do not desire anything other than my own self.

Let me remain stationed in my inner being, discarding all else.

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The whole process of evolution, for the spirit,

is an awakening to the truths,

and the means of implementation of those truths,

that are eternally present in itself. What was implicit has to become explicit.

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What man really seeks is not perfection which is in the future,

but fulfillment which is ever in the present.

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To know the not-Self in one’s nature

is the pathway to knowledge of the Self.

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One must seek in the depths of one’s consciousness

the vitalizing centre of one’s being,

the fundamental origin of all one’s developments.

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When you discover for yourself, however dimly,

that you are rooted in something that is infinitely vast and potential,

you have found the soil wherein you grow unconsciously

into a most wonderful tree, the tree of life blended with knowledge.

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Progress from the standpoint of the Spirit is from peak to peak,

one form of perfect synthesis to another,

from a completeness to another yet more beautiful completeness.

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Long not for anything which will give a greater conceit of self,

but for a truer realization of that selfless Self

which is the centre and origin of every being.

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If you dig into yourself, you will discover

how much of yourself is an amalgam of egoism and conventionality.

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Man has to discover for himself that what he thinks as being himself,

what he calls “myself”, is an illusion,

a maya, which is but a cloak of many colours

like those that appear on a bubble in the sunlight.

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He who becomes the master of himself

can become master over all that is related to himself.

Self-mastery implies self-knowledge and

that self-sufficiency which is only in love.

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Our wishes are often the progeny of our weaknesses;

our fancies the creation of our wishes;

and those fancies, when they become adjusted to the frame of our minds,

are all too apt to be mistaken for facts.

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Remember that the whole sense of one’s importance

is merely an evaluation of self by self.

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It is only when man realizes that there is in himself no centre

around which he can build permanently, that he will begin to seek

and can find that true centre, which is everywhere and nowhere.

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Beware the worm of self-conceit that feeds on the faults of others;

destroy the sense of self-importance

which eats like a canker the bud of one’s pure aspirations.

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Man is more than his environment.

It is from the innate quality of the Spirit in him,

his inner storehouse, that he draws those ideas,

his intuitions, which unify his perceptions of the external world

instantaneously with a value which is qualitative

and not quantitative, and which he embodies in the works of his culture

– those achievements which belong not only to one particular time

but to all times, and mark the path of his upward progress.

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Each must discover the heavenliness,

the expanding universe of his own being.

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Before we can transcend limitations,

whether in our own nature or in the circumstances around us,

we must try to understand what it is that they are meant to teach.

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Each must discover his own way in life,

and that way lies in his heart.

Let him delve into the depths of his being;

his true centre is not far from there.

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Know for yourself the way along which you should go

– do not depend upon others.

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It is I alone who frame on those other lips the words that may hurt me.

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Our growth consists not merely in an increase of ideas,

but also in capacity to feel in a million and one ways.

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The dark night must descend before a new dawn.

Should not, then, one’s whole nature return to a primeval virginity

it can put forth the rarest new flower?

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Progress, whether for individuals, groups or the whole of humanity,

is by decisive choices made from time to time,

forced by the development of a situation which, as it mounts up,

calls for its own resolution.

Life in matter is a series of crises and resolutions.

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No one can gain a true knowledge of himself without facing adversity

and overcoming difficulties.

But in developing the dynamism to overcome,

there must be naught of the spirit of aggression or aggrandisement.

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The moment we are aware of a hindrance in our nature

to that fulfillment which all Life unconsciously seeks,

aware of it as a fetter upon ourselves,

that moment we are on the way to its abolition.

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The joy and the pain, the reaching up and falling back

– all are gathered up finally into the experience of a realization

from which nothing thereafter can shake us.

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It is the direction of our progress that matters

– not where we stand at present.

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Man, in his own true nature, is eternally free and blissful;

he needs but to realize this truth and know himself,

by withdrawing from everything other than his Self.

This alone constitutes his true liberation.

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I am no more – and no less – than a law of Life’s expression.

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Each of us contains within himself the formula of his creation,

his uniqueness, according to which is his expansion in time,

the curve of his progress.

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I struggle with myself; I cannot escape from myself;

let me re-shape myself in terms of that which is Universal.

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When once the Will is awakened, it can never again be put to sleep.

When once the connection is formed

between the apex of a man’s true nature and its foundation

in the realm of matter, that connection cannot,

ordinarily, cease to exist.

It is by the power of the Atman, the Godhead within,

that he achieves what would otherwise be a seeming miracle.

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It is difficult for us to know the nature of free Will,

because in its absoluteness it resides only in

that transcendent abstraction,

which is the centre and origin of everything.

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In the Spiritual Will there is no coercion of an unwilling self,

for the Will is one and moves as a whole.

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What is Truth?

It is an object of knowledge; an object of love

and of the knowledge which is at the fountainhead of love?

Or does it consist, even more than these, in a universal self-identification,

giving rise to the incorporation of the essence of every other being

in oneself, and the living of a life that is at each point

a perfect consummation of oneself?

In this last view, Truth is a becoming

but with a quality of finality, a progressive attainment yet a realization.

Truth is Life in its highest, most evolved state,

the fullest revelation of its essence.

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Before we can receive in our hearts the Truth

which springs from the deepest part of ourselves,

we have to be prepared by a cleansing,

a baptism, not merely with water but also with fire.

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Every fleeting thought, every passing fancy

can make or mar the picture

which should be the perfect representation of the Truth of oneself.

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Will is that link which connects no dimension with all dimensions;

it is determined by no end from without, but follows an end from within.

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What we can call luck is still a large element in our lives.

A day must come when the determination of our will shall wholly prevail.

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True self-determination takes its rise from a dimensionless point.

It is not to be confused with any personal re-action.

To arise and take place, it needs a heart and mind

emptied of all predilections and prejudices.

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What keeps us playing our parts and going round and round

the three lower worlds is not a Divine dictate, but ourselves,

our own will-to-live, which comes from within ourselves.

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What is termed the will of the Spirit is a force

which carries the Truth which is within,

through an appropriate movement, into its proper form.

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Will is self-motion from a state of self-transcendence

to a state of self-eminence.

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Desire is but Will inverted.

It is a pull of matter, instead of the free movement of the Spirit.

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Action and understanding are unified in the Will.

An act of Will that does not carry within itself understanding

is no true Will at all.

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