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PÄP (SOURCES OF SINS) 16. Rati-Arati: Rati means liking, while Arati means disliking. When a friend comes to our house, we like him, but on the other hand if a funny looking stranger comes to our door we dislike him. This liking or disliking seems to be a natural response but we should not forget that they can bring feelings of attachment or hatred in our minds. Even though our expressions may look innocent, we should be careful about them and try to balance them.
17. Mäyä-Mrushäväda Telling a malicious lie is called Mäyä Mrushäväda. Any lie is bad, but when it is done with malice it is worse. Malicious behavior causes nothing but quarrels and friction. Not only should we avoid such habits, but we should stay away from those who have such habits. Instead of being vicious, we should be kind to others.
18. Mithya-Darshan-Shalya This word is combination of three words. 1) Mithya means false, 2) Darshan means faith, and 3) Shalya means a thorn. This means to believe in false faith is a thorn. We know thorns never give pleasure, but rather they always hurt. In the same way, keeping faith in a false belief will lead us to nothing but sufferings. False beliefs can start from believing in false teachers, false religions and false gods. False teachers are those who do not believe in the five major vows as prescribed by the Jinas. They promote violence, lying, stealing, immoral sensual activities, and possessiveness. These activities will bring our downfall. In the same way, false religions will promote teaching opposite of what the Jinas have taught. False religions can promote violence, anger, ego, deceit, and greed. They will nourish attachment and hatred. That will be bad for us. In the same way, a false god would be the one who is tinted with attachment and hatred. When someone is biased, he cannot give proper advice. But Jinas do not have any attachment or hatred; therefore, they do not expect anything from what they advise. There is no reason for them to give us any advice that will hurt us. They have reached the higher state by following the same path they have shown to us. They have taught us that we are our own saviors, and only we can save ourselves. Thus, we should have faith in the right teachers, the right religion, and the right god if we want to progress in our spiritual journey.
From the discussion we realize that any of these 18 types of sinful activities are harmful. As long as we are living, we are bound to undertake some of these activities, but we should be careful and replace the sinful activities with good activities to minimize harm to our soul. If we have to get involved in sinful activity due to unavoidable circumstances, we should do it with regret and repent for doing such acts and never enjoy doing them.
Sympathy for the lowest animals is one of the noblest virtues with which man is endowed.
--Charles Robert Darwin
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JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE I
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