Start the practice of self-control with some penance; begin with fasting.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of self-discipline and making sacrifices to achieve personal growth.
Mahavira suggests that self-control is fundamental to personal development and that practicing self-discipline can begin with simple acts of sacrifice, such as fasting. This approach not only helps in overcoming desires but also paves the way for deeper introspection and spiritual advancement.
In practice
In a wellness seminar, one might quote Mahavira to encourage participants to embrace fasting as a way to practice self-control.
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.
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.
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.
What is there in life if you do not work? There is only sensation, and there are only a few sensations— you cannot live on them. You can only live on work, by work, through work. How can you live with self-respect if you do not do things as well as lies in you?
A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday existence.
Giving is the secret of abundance.
A man must not always tell all, for that be folly; but what a man says should be what he thinks.
He who is not actively kind is cruel!
And yet not a dream, but a mighty reality- a glimpse of the higher life, the broader possibilities of humanity, which is granted to the man who, amid the rush and roar of living, pauses four short years to learn what living means
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