Desistance – Propensity

Auspicious or inauspicious inclinations earn him virtuous or vicious karma. Heavy with the weight of karma, living beings wander in the eighty four hundred thousands of birth places and are stuck with the birth-disease-death cycle.

In this cycle, sometimes, he gets happiness, sometimes unhappiness. Sometimes, he laughs, sometimes weeps. It is the experience of wise men that in this world there are more occasions to weep compared to laughing – behind little pleasures is hidden great pain.

Pleasures are liked but they are like a sword-edge smeared with honey licking of which yields awful results.

What to do under such condition? This is a question worth thinking. Answering this, wise man say that be away from unrestraint attitude and be inclined towards restraint. Thus, improve yourself through restraint and keep aloof from unrestraint.

- Uttaradhyayana Sutra 31/2