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THE MESSAGE OF JAINISM those that waver in the scarlet glow of fire. All are fellow creatures, all are brothers. For, all have got bodies, all have got senses, all have got instincts. All take food and digest it, all multiply, all are born and die, all are capable of suffering and enjoying, and all bear the germs of perfection within themselves. That means all are able to develop their latent powers during the long chain of their respective existences, succeeding one upon another. It implies that all are capable of cultivating their innate potentialities of perception, knowledge, activity and joy to a degree of highest perfection. And it is significant that all find themselves placed in the middle of the struggle against “KARMA", the impact of previous action..
“KARMA” denotes that substance which we continually absorb as the result of our bodily and mental activity. As such, it remains latent in the depths of our being, until it “ripens” at the critical moment of our destiny. Then it emerges, determining the whole set-up of our complex personality in so far as it is foreign to the “soul ” and shaping the final course of our fate. We produce Karma by walking and speaking, by eating and breathing, by loving and hating, by helping and harming. And a different kind of activity produces a different kind of Karma which may ripen either immediately or after some time, or even in one or another of our subsequent: existences.
यादृशं क्रियते कर्म तादृशं भुज्यते फलम् । यादृशमुप्यते बीजं तादृशं प्राप्यते फलम् ।।
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
