Jain Spirit 2000 03 No 03

SR No.: 528983
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 66
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, UK_Jain Spirit, & UK
File Size: 14 MB

Page 25

FEATURES
Poor people should not be pitied or ignored. Through our charity, they can become the source of our happiness.
HAPPINESS IS WITHIN REACH
Jain values need to be lived to be enjoyed, argue Gurudev and Pramoda Chitrabhanu
SICARRIE मोहनपुर (नालन्दा यहाँ सप्तम वर्ग तक शिक्षा
T
Today mankind is living in an | taking their place. The old is being interesting time, when the science replaced by the new with tremendous of information technology is speed. rapidly taking over and practically governing his life. The cave man has become a castle man. The days of cartwheels and carriages are being replaced by Cadillacs and convertibles. The period of stone grinding and grating has become obsolete and the modern electric grinders and graters are
Jain Spirit March May 2000 Jain Education International 2010_03
24
As the machine is used for instant work, in the same way man works for instant happiness, fame and riches. He does not care whether it is at the cost of environmental pollution, depletion of the natural resources or animal abuse and suffering. He is under the powerful grip of greed and acts under the
intoxication of modernization, leading him to self-destruction. Motivated by
grand sensuality, he uses all of his dalls in the acquisition of worldly pleasures.
In this way technology and information make the rich richer and the poor poorer. When we look around us, all we see is that man has become a burden and an enemy to himself and the mother earth, rather than a friend to all. Engaging himself in anger, lust, selfishness, deceit and competition he ultimately paves the way to violence and war. As Thomas Merton has rightly said, "Violence can begin only where thought and rational communication have broken down."
Living with this pace and in this space, man has become a robot. He now has no mind of his own and works like a machine. Society thinks for him and he obeys its orders. His herd mentality blinds his vision and goads him to move about without any direction. One wonders whether he has the same element which is potentially capable of becoming Mahavir, Buddha, Ram or Jesus-epitomes of love, compassion and simplicity. How can he attain anything, if he does not take charge of his own life and discern the difference between right and wrong in the light of the truth? History tells us that no amount of wealth and fame has made mankind happy. For material happiness is fleeting and temporary. It's definition changes with man's desires and dreams. Happiness does not lie in accumulation of things, but in the art of equal distribution, simplicity and contentment.
In this New Year let us decide not to become a machine in the mechanical world, acting without thought, but instead thinking before each action. For every positive or negative action has an equal and opposite reaction. A loving thought cast in the universe has a loving response and an evil thought has an evil one. It is the law of nature that what is thrown out in the universe comes about like a boomerang. So why not prioritize