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THE MESSAGE OF JAINISM
this very Karma. In this manner, the soul becomes capable of destroying its own evil propensities and of extinguishing. the flames of all the various kinds of passion, before they have time to overpower it. That means, according to Jainism, the first essential step towards religious activity is nothing but the positive application of one's own free will.. It implies that to a considerable extent the soul is, indeed, the lord of its own fate.
Thus Jaininsm does not benumb its followers by holding before them the terrors of Karma. Nor does it enjoin them to take shelter behind a languid and unhealthy fatalism, as many people suppose all Oriental religions do. On the contrary, it trains the individual to become a true hero on the battlefield of life, with self-conquest as its one objective.
For, it surely presumes a great deal of heroism on the part of the individual, to make him fully realise the cruel irony of this play of life. It is indeed a pathetic spectacle to witness all creatures strive after happiness by all means. of physical and mental activity within their power! From eating, drinking, sleeping, dressing, up to sport and play, traffic and trade, art and science, they strive after happiness, at any cost, even at the cost of the well-being of others. And the end they reach is alas! just the contrary-the incurring of undesirable Karma, and, with it, latent sorrow and suffering. To make him realise all this, to make him fully aware that he cannot even quietly sit and breathe, without killing and harming life round about, calls indeed for a heroic spirit in the spectator of this strange.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
