left by the oil of a cart wheel; and in the last degree it can never be washed away in this life, whatever efforts one may make, but is as ineffaceable as the crimson dye.[1]
The result of any of these four sins, if indulged in to the worst degree, is to condemn a man to rebirth in hell; the next worse forces him in his next life to become a bird, a beast, or an insect; if he has not indulged his sin for longer than four months, he may be born as a man; if he had thrown it off within a fortnight from its inception, he might become a god; but if in all his life he had remained free from all wrath, conceit, intrigue and greed, he would become a Siddha without rebirth.
All these four, Krodha, Māna, Māyā and Lobha, are called Kaṣāya, or things which tie one down to this world; they are also called Ċaṇḍāḷa Ċokaḍī, the four vile or outcaste ones, and the following legend is told to show how indulgence in them destroys all true dignity and drags one down to the lowest level. A certain Brāhman, having bathed and worshipped, felt himself polluted by the accidental touch of a sweeper woman, and, being enraged, swore at her. To his astonishment she promptly caught hold of his garments, and the more he swore at her, the more tightly she clung. Mad with rage, the Brāhman rushed to the king demanding redress. The king asked the woman how she had dared to catch hold of a Brāhman, but she replied that the Brāhman had already polluted himself by receiving a Ċaṇḍāḷa into his heart when he became angry, and therefore her touch could no longer pollute him, for he had become her fellow outcaste.
The Jaina sum up their teaching about these four sins by
- ↑ To Jaina it is of special interest that about a century before this idea had been incorporated into their teaching, the great Hebrew prophet was also reflecting on the discoloration produced on the soul by sin, but declared that there was One who could remove even the crimson stain. ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ Isaiah i. 18.
