Attachment and aversion are the root cause of karma, and karma originates from infatuation. Karma is the root cause of birth and death, and these are said to be the source of misery. None can escape the effect of their own past karma.
Interpretation
This quote highlights how our attachments and aversions lead to karma, which in turn causes suffering through the cycle of life and death.
In this quote, Mahavira emphasizes the interconnectedness of attachment, aversion, and karma. He explains that our emotional ties and dislikes create karma, which shapes our experiences in life, including birth and death. The suffering we endure stems from this cycle of karma, suggesting that understanding and transcending our attachments can lead to liberation from misery. Ultimately, the quote serves as a reminder that one cannot escape the consequences of their past actions, urging us to reflect on our choices and their effects.
In practice
During a philosophy discussion about the causes of suffering.
If one undertakes retrospection of the day's events, one must do it regularly at the appointed hour, not fitfully, not doing it today, neglecting to do it tomorrow and the day after and then taking it up again on the fourth day. Such irregular practice is not conducive to the confirmation of the habit of retrospection.
If you want to cultivate a habit, do it without any reservation, till it is firmly established. Until it is so confirmed, until it becomes a part of your character, let there be no exception, no relaxation of effort.
Start the practice of self-control with some penance; begin with fasting.
Anger begets more anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love.
Modes are infinite, and laws are infinite.
Eating constitutes the greatest obstacle to self-control; it gives rise to indolence.
I think doctors care very deeply about their patients, but when they organize into the AMA, their responsibility is to the welfare of doctors, and quite often, these lobbying groups are the only ones that are heard in the state capitols and in the capitol of our country.
Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.
Remember that you are in actor in a play of such a kind that the author chooses...For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part belongs to another.
Many have become chess masters - no one has become the master of chess.
"Things have a life of their own," the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. "It's simply a matter of waking up their souls."
I believe that my theory is correct; for whatever be the question upon which I am arguing, whether it be religious, philosophical, political, or economical; whether it affects well-being, morality, equality, right, justice, progress, responsibility, property, labor, exchange, capital, wages, taxes, population, credit, or Government; at whatever point of the scientific horizon I start from, I invariably come to the same thing—the solution of the social problem is in liberty.
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