________________ Is samayik performed just to get it over and done with or to gain essence out of it? Whether one performs Samayik, fasts or meets an ascetic, in the end, one must gain the essence from all these religious activities. What happens when virati is born? Once virati is roused, one stops indulging in sins. Once you start detaching from the world, your journey towards moksha begins. One is renounced and the other is accepted. We must let go of one and hold onto another. The wrapper has to be removed and the chocolate has to be chewed. Unfortunately, what happens is the opposite! We try to navigate through rough waters with only one oar. We chew the chocolate without removing the wrapper. We enter religious places without removing the worldly filth within us. Just mechanically performing a religious activity is not enough. Religion is that which, after experiencing it once, you feel like experiencing it again and again. You will chew a chocolate again and again. Will you chew a medicinal tablet again and again? No! You would rather swallow it. = US 149 -
