________________
DISCOURSE 13
223 HATRED FOR JIVAS IS A SERIOUS OFFENCE
First of all, you must do this. You must give up the tradition that has been in existence for countless ages of causing harm and violence to living beings. Give up your enmity, jealousy, unkindness, and abhorrence for other living beings. Enmity against Jivas is a great sin and a serious offence. In the same manner, it is a great offence to be jealous of jivas, to be unkind to them, to abhor them and to treat them with contempt. The punishment for these sins is very great. A terrible punishment awaits those sins.
From the Audience : We commit many such offences in our lives. We feel that it is difficult to escape punishment for those offences.
Maharajashri : If you feel that you cannot avoid committing offences or sins, then escaping from punishment is not only difficult but impossible. As long as you do not see the impurities of your heart; and as long as you do not even think of discarding them, you will not be able to make any effort to discard them and whatever austerities you may perform, they cannot be called Dharma if they are carried out with an impure and weak intellect.
YOU FEEL THAT SINFUL THOUGHTS ARE PLEASANT; DO YOU NOT ?
If you do not think of the welfare of jivas;
and if you think of harming them; If you do not adore the virtues of the virtuous; but if you see defects even in them;
and calumniate them; If you do not have compassion and kindness for those in distress and despair;
but if you are unkind or cruel to them; If you treat sinners with abhorrence; and if you do not look at them with
an eye of neutrality;
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org