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THE MESSAGE OF JAINISM
individual gains a third advantage by adopting an attitude of self-abnegation. And it is perhaps the most valuable
of all advantages, for it consists in Renunciation, that genuine and abiding bliss which the Highroad renunciation alone can give. to Lasting For, what is the good of trying Happiness to gratify all the wishes, all the passions,
all the ambitions one may feel inclined to? Is the advantage gained thereby, indeed, worth so much hankering, so much worrying and so much harming? No, says the sage: the happiness that we crave for is fleeting like a dream, like a cloud, like beauty. It leaves the bitterness of its absence behind as soon as it has passed away. Like a dose of opium, it leaves behind an intense craving for more and more. It is just as the Uttaradhayana Sutra states it to be : सुवन्नरूवस्स उ पव्वया भवे सिया हु केलाससमा असंखया । नरस्स लुद्धस्स न ते हि किंचि इच्छा हु आगाससमा अणंतिया ।।
“Let there be mountains of gold and silver, let them be as high as the Everest, and innumerable too. Still to man in his greediness, they will mean nothing. For, Desire is boundless like space."
So what is the good of hankering for a drop of nectar when you are thirsty for a cupful? And since the cupful has been denied to you, why bother about the drop ? Shake off that foolish wish and forget it.
Moreover the happiness you crave for, if gained, means possession. It is possession of land or fortune, of fields
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com