________________
Jain Meditation
S.C.: Relativity means seeing the same point from many angles. It is also called karma, it is rebirth. Your next birth will be according to the life you live now.
L.M.: Though it's not necessarily in the physical dimension. Could it be a rebirth in an astral, or causal, or other body?
S.C.: Anywhere, the whole universe is a very vast cosmic entity.
L.M.: You would apply the relativity principle toward one's experience of death. We shouldn't fear it.
S.C.: Whether you fear it or not, what is going to come is going to come. So why not accept it joyfully?
L.M.: We don't like suffering.
S.C.: If you go on being fearful, fear causes the suffering. When we grow old, the ears cannot hear, so we go to the doctor; the eyes cannot see, so we go to see doctors, and they operate. Our body is not well, we always have to take injections. The joints may have pain. The body is not able to function as when we were young. And at that time, death gives you liberation. Then, you discard this old car.
L.M.: We're glad to be leaving the old, worn out body.
S.C.: You'll have a new car. Because you led a good life, it will be better than the one you have now. We have already evolved from the past life. Jainism means the evolution of consciousness. The body is just a form to go on evolving with
L.M.: Through death, is there a God, or divinity, that we see, that we experience?
S.C.: First of all, Jainism teaches that your own self is the hidden God. That the kingdom of God is within you.
L.M.: As Jesus said.
132
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org