________________
32
THE WAY OF LIFE
future, automatically they attain the highest kind of happiness. As long as the Jiyatmas desire wealth and pleasures all their eíforts are aimed at wealth and pleasures only. Their aim is mere materialistic development. It should be noted that their worthiness has not become perfect as long as they have such aims.
Make Spiritual Prosperity, the End and Aim of your Life
Wealth and worldly desires are essential in the mundane life of man; you cannot live without money and pleasures; without them you cannot live and you cannot carry on in life. But our aim and our purpose should not be only wealth and worldly pleasures. Materialistic progress is beneficial only as a means; not as an end. The aim can be only salvation. What aim have you chosen ? May we hope that it is not merely a desire for wealth and pleasures and that your object is not mere wealth and pleasures?
Someone from the audience says: “Maharaj, That is our aim".
Maharajashri : A life in which wealth and worldly pleasures are all important is not good for you. If men desire only wealth and worldly pleasures, then human life will be ruined. You are householders; you are living in the Samsar (mundane world). You need money and you need sensual pleasures but what should be your attitude towards life? What should be your aim in life? Is it ruin or spiritual progress? The desire for wealth is one thing but the attachment for it is entirely another. Enjoying sensual delights is one thing but becoming addicted to them is a different thing. There is a great difference between these two attitudes. You make a sincere effort to become detached. In the later parts of this grantha, this kind of effort has been mentioned as a desirable one. It should be done. Is that not so ? You must bear in mind this point that if the end and aim of life is merely wealth, then; after death, the soul gets runied. It will not find any other state except being born as an animal or as an inhabitant of hell or as a human being of the meanest level. For such a soul, there is nothing except sorrow and agony. .. .
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org