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01. Maitri Bhavana (Universal Friendship)
Shashibhushan Bandopadhyay, well known for his honesty and compassion, was a very successful and famous advocate of Calcutta who lived in the early part of the 19th century. One afternoon during a hot summer of May, he hired a horse cart and went to the house of a well-known gentleman for some work. When the work was over, and it was time for departure, the gentleman said, "Sir! You could have sent a note with your servant instead of having taken the trouble of coming to my place in this hot weather and I would have visited you."
The advocate replied, "Yes, it occurred to me in the beginning, but when I thought of this scorching heat, I did not feel it right to send the servant. If he had come, he would have been either walking or on a bicycle instead of a horse cart, In that case, he would have suffered more than me due to this extremely hot weather. With this in mind, I preferred to come myself." What a humane treatment of the servant it was! He looked upon the servant as a friend!
The cultivation of friendliness without any selfishness towards all living beings is Maitri (Universal friendship). The devotee should show equal friendship to all living beings without any reservation due to gender, color, race, wealth, nationality, look, size, and so on. Bhagawan Mahavir said that we must be friends of all living beings. Feelings of friendship should be the foundation of all our future thinking. Thus, when we become friends with someone or for that matter with all living beings, how can we possibly think of harming, deceiving or quarreling with them? How can our actions be harsh towards anybody? We would never hurt our friends; on the contrary, we support them and protect them. That way we develop bonds with each other. Friendship teaches us to be tolerant, to forgive, and to care and share among one another. There will be times when our thoughts may be reactionary and harsh; at that time instead of reacting right away, it would be better to wait and think of friendship with the person concerned. This always serves to ease the reaction, making you more reluctant to do anything that is not desirable. Since human nature is such that it always happens to react, Bhagawan Mahavir said, "If you want to react, then react with Pramod".
02. Pramod Bhävanä (Respect for Virtue)
Over a hundred years ago in the year 1883, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, a great torchbearer of Indian culture, died. Efforts were made by his devotees to prepare a biography of Swamiji.
One devotee of Swamiji very humbly approached a great scholar disciple and said, "You are a great scholar, and you know Swamiji's doctrines so well. You are thoroughly acquainted with his life. Please write a biography of Swamiji. It will be a permanent memorial to Swamiji and will inspire future generations to a higher and nobler life."
The scholar disciple replied, "Well friend, the work has already begun and will end at the proper time." The devotee replied, "We are very grateful to you. Kindly set aside all other works and complete this work as early as possible."
The scholar disciple said, "Well brother, our viewpoints are different. I am writing it with every moment of my life, by adopting the qualities of Swamiji. That is how I am writing his biography. I would not feel satisfied simply by writing a description of his virtues on paper. Writing on paper will surely not create a real memorial of Swamiji. At this time we should follow his principles and live our lives the way he did, and that way we will be able to continue his work."
Pramod (joy, praise, and respect), or delight in the virtues of others, is defined as a state of experience of real joy and enthusiasm for those who possess higher and superior qualities. In this Pramod Bhävanä, we admire the successes and virtues of our friends, and spiritual leaders. Whenever we come across virtuous people, we should really respect, honor, and admire their virtues. When we are overwhelmed with joy because of such fine virtues in our friend, and spiritual leaders, the process of becoming virtuous begins. Good virtues are the right faith, the right knowledge, the right conduct, and the right penance. We should praise and show our highest respect to Tirthankars who showed the path and Gurus who help us in following that path for our spiritual journey.
Human nature is such that sometimes it cannot tolerate even the successes of friends or virtuous people. Sometimes, we are so jealous that we label their good virtues as bad qualities. When we are burning in
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