Thought of the day

Here there is no restriction on time. Anybody can come when he wants to. This situation is good and yet worth a little discussion. It is good because it satisfies the feelings of the visitors. It needs to be discussed because after all energy has its limits. Is there a middle path ? A little search will reveal time management as the solution.

Thought of the day

The world is a riddle. It is very difficult to unravel it. Every object exists in many states and no man can, in one lifetime, know it all. This world is a collection of infinite substances. When one can not know everything about one single object, then how can one know the universe in its entirety? The secret is seamless and so the search for it is continuous and constant. No man can claim to know all the secrets.

Thought of the day

Even though the shore is visible, the elephant is not able to reach it since he is stuck in quicksand. The thirst of the sense is also like quicksand. The man trapped in quicksand is seeing the outer rim of his grief but is not able to reach it. There is an art of coming out of the quicksand. The one who does not make a determined effort to come out, can be pulled out by some one from the outside. If you abate your instincts and control your activity, you have created your support and you will be able to come out of the swamp.

Thought of the day

In contemporary times, two words are highly discussed - materialism and spiritualism. The word spiritualism has been discussed from various perspectives. Any practice carried out with the soul at the centre is spiritualism -this has been ascertained from the perspective of the highest truth (evambhoota naya). The finding of contemporary times is that purity of consciousness is spiritualism, (rijusutra naya). The finding from the practical perspective is that the mind filled with qualities such as friendship is spiritualism (vyavahar naya). Spritualism is the obvious tool to find the solutions for mental and emotional problems. It is also the hidden solution to materialistic problems. When the mind is not influenced by emotions such as friendship, compassion etc., then it is difficult to find solutions to materialistic problems.

Thought of the day

Solitude is very valuable. It can be reviewed from the viewpoint of Anekant. If a person is a thinker, is creative and imaginative by nature, takes interest in developmental activities and makes plans for them, then for him solitude is useful. To a spiritual person also solitude is very useful. The quarrelsome person too finds solitude useful. The man who is free from attachment, aversion and prejudices, who has the maturity of patience and understanding and has the capacity to provide development to others, does he need solitude?

Thought of the day

What is the secret of your success ? Ponder over it. If fate brought you success, be alert Make such efforts that will nurture fate. Do not work towards creating impediments to fate. If the reason for your success is hard work, then be alert to it. Hard work fashions out the future. Excellent hard work means a bright future. Not sufficient effort means poor future. View hard work and fate together. It will pave the path to success.

Thought of the day

A wound inside and an apology outside. in this state emotions remain silent and words make a lot of noise. After one day everything returns to the same without any change.
Apology has value when there is no wound inside, it is healed. The words that can bring about such a healing become full of life. These words, full of vitality, are the ones that give birth to amity.

Thought of the day

||Arham||

There are many weapons in the world, each mightier and deadlier than the other. However none of them is the ultimate weapon. The only one which is the ultimate and can be considered par excellence is - FORGIVENESS, ARMISTICE or PEACE.

SAMVATSARI, which is the most sacred festival of Jains, is the occasion for using this ultimate weapon, viz., forgiveness. Every human has three weapons -

•  Mind

•  Speech

•  Body

Man can think of causing harm to others; he can make use of his articulation for causing harm to others; he can use his body for doing injustice to others. And people do so everyday.

The sacred message for celebrating the Festival of Samvatsari is - against whom you have used the mental weapon, ask him/her for pardon at mental level; against whom you have used the vocal weapon, ask him/her for pardon at vocal level; against whom you have used the bodily weapon, ask him/her for pardon at bodily level.

 

When you are asking for pardon at mental level, let your speech and body also accompany your mind; when you are asking for pardon at vocal level, let your mind and body also accompany your speech and when you are asking for pardon at bodily level, let your mind and speech also accompany your body.

In our life, there may arise occasions when bitterness is created due to difference of opinion, difference of interest and so on. If this bitterness is eliminated, then psychological complexities would not be formed, the tension would not become long-lasting and the mental peace would also not be lost.

Samvatsari is a spiritual festival. It is an important opportunity for evaluation of the human unity. People can benefit by utilizing this opportunity.

 

Acharya Mahapragya

 

Thought of the day

Awareness is the secret sutra of spiritual practice. The same action and yet difference in results. Alert action involves less bondage. With careless action there is greater bondage. So the reason for the same action leading to less or greater bondage is alertness or carelessness. Therefore Mahavira said, always be alert not careless. To remain alert it is necessary to resolve to be so. If the resolve is not strong then the mist of carelessness will begin to spread. The objective is to be alert and to be alert is also the resolve. Viewing the sky (Akash darshan) helps bring alertness to life.

Thought of the day

There are two ways of looking at the one who enjoys:
1. One who enjoys the fruits of his karma.
2. One who enjoys wordly pleasures.
One who enjoys the fruits of karma: This is the influence of the past. Man is not at complete freedom to change this. One who enjoys worldly pleasures: This is the influence of the present.
Both these states can be changed with spiritual practice. If the one who is enjoying the fruits of his karma, lives in the present nurturing a feeling of equality towards all, he will be following the path of spiritual practice. To rise above the enjoyment of worldly pleasures would mean following the spiritual path of conquering one's senses. If our discrimination is awakened, then we can find solutions to problems.

Thought of the day

There are innumerable rules of world management. There are innumerable rules of karma management too. We can not explain karma by knowing just any one rule. A living being is born again after death. This process is controlled by his mature Karmas in that place. The body constitution will be of this kind; his existence will be of such and such kind, his limbs will be of this kind, are controlled by the mature karma of the soul. The ministry of karma is very wide. Thousands and thousands of workers are doing their job. Their work flings surprises on the gross world.

Thought of the day

The convention of the All India Terapanth Mahila Mandal begins today. The voices of awakened women are heard from every corner of the world. Awakening is a very good thing. It is not desirable that one part of society is awakened and the other is in slumber. No chariot moves on a single wheel. Only if both the wheels are in order the chariot moves. For awakening it is necessary that the woman supports the man and the man, the woman. When support is mutual, there arises no question of the equality or inequality.

Thought of the day

Look at the soul (atma). Look inside. Your house lies within. It is very beautiful. You have seen a house in the outside, you have seen other people's houses. You think they are beautiful. That which is new today becomes old in a matter of ten or twenty years. Can they be called beautiful ? That can be called beautiful which maintains the same form at all times; even amidst flowing streams it retains its form. Beauty is both flow and consistency. Without balancing the two, beauty can not be defined nor can we enter the world within.

Thought of the day

Do you know how to write ? If you do not then do not commit the mistake of learning to write. If you do know how to write, what is the need to do so ? You do not write for yourself, you write for others. Will another be able to understand the content of your writing ? He may understand the words, but will he understand what you are trying to convey through them ? If they could grasp the meaning of the words in the true sense then the ancient texts would not have so many interpretations. There would not be endless arguments over a single sentence or a single word. Since this is happening, think before you write what should I write ? For whom am I writing ?

Thought of the day

Today is teacher's day. To be a teacher is to experience a twofold responsibility. To study is easy but to teach is difficult. Every person has his own level of comprehension. The teacher understands that which is to be taught. The student's understanding has not yet developed to that extent. In such a situation, to establish a rapport between the teacher and the student is a very complicated task. The one who is able to accomplish this complicated task is the real teacher.

Thought of the day

The world has changed a lot. Man has changed, the circumstances in which he lives have changed and even his mind has changed. The state of things as they prevailed three decades earlier, no longer prevail. If we try to account for the situations over a century, we would have a corpus of literature on changes. We make little effort to go into the past and that is why we are ignorant of changes. It is only to acquaint us with the past that we have the subjects of history and mythology. If history and mythology did not exist, then man's story will not be more than a hundred years old.

Thought of the day

The atoms of delusion keep spreading their net. One such net is desire, ambition. It influences the senses. The thus influenced senses distort the subject under consideration. A person who seeks to control his senses resolves: I will see with my eyes, but not influence my sight with emotional attachment. This resolve saves the subject from getting distorted. If the sight is leading towards distortion then I will close my eyes and look inwards. This resolve will in some time, control the senses. The Indriya Vijay Pranay-ama is also a useful tool to help control the senses.