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emotions that arise from Rāga-Dveśa - (attachment and aversion) of the external materialistic world.
Jainism in a Global Perspective
Happiness is not something external, but internal. To discover it, all we need to do is to remove the veil of Māyā and overcome our internal enemies. Unless and until we do this, we will continue to be incarcerated in the cycles of life and death, forever chasing fleeting illusions of happiness.
The past couple of centuries have seen rapid economic development. This is set to accelerate in the next century. As the world continues to be dominated by more materialism, man will lose sight of the meaning and value of religion.
From time immemorial Jainism has managed to raise man when he is sunk deep in the swamps of immorality. Jainism will similarly instil new hope among mankind in the 21st century. There is once again great need for Jainism.
I shall now explain further what I mean by knowledge, conduct and belief.
To begin with, we must have knowledge of what we are trying to achieve. Lord Mahavira has said that man alone can be his own best friend and also his own worst enemy. And man alone has the power to make himself his own best friend or his worst enemy. So the true conquerer is not the man on the battlefield who has slayed thousands, but the man who has managed to conquer his own internal enemies of:
illusion
anger
greed
pride
Māyā
Krodha
Lobha
Māna
A Jina is a conquerer of his internal enemies. The Jaina in the 21st century will have to fight even harder than before to combat these enemies. I shall illustrate the operation of these internal enemies by means of an example.
A teenager may look at her friend's new clothes and say, "How happy
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