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PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
What is the fruit of listening to the religious discourse? Knowledge. What is the fruit of knowledge? Distinguished knowledge. What is the fruit of distinguished knowledge? Pratyakhyan (Regression from sins). When you hear the words of the great Lord through the lips of your preceptor you get knowledge. When you go on promoting your knowledge with the help of the contact of the great men and self study, you acquire distinguished knowledge. When you acquire such distinguished knowledge you are inclined to abandon sins and thereby non-attachment arises. You must have learnt that non-attachment is the fruit of knowledge. You will come across these words written on a board somewhere in the monastery. This means that knowledge is fulfilled in observing
VOWS.
We may preach before you but if you do not observe any vow then believe that you are not awarded with the fruit of listening to our preaching. After some portion of the discourse being delivered there is a call for 'taking vows' and you take up some of the vows to your ability. This is our usual ancient Jain convention.
Someone would argue, "Why do you talk of abandoning sins first? You must talk of earning religious merits. If a man having earned wealth by unfair means gives it in charity or spends it after serving the saintly persons and other benevolent acts; his sins are wiped out; but this sort of argument or understanding is not proper as the scriptures do not preach to spend in charity after earning by immoral means. They on the contrary lay down that one should not practise unfair means, unjust measures, and immoral ways of earning wealth. Wealth so acquired though scanty shall make you happy and charity executed with such wealth shall bear multiple rewards. Here it should be clarified that sins and merits cannot be counter-balanced. You shall have to reap rewards of your sins and also rewards of your merits. One who has committed sins shall be compensated for the sins and one who has given in charity shall also be compensated like-wise. Thus one must abandon sins.
Supposing an outlaw having robbed the people gives in charity his entire booty, what would be the justification? Sin or merit? Think well and reply. If you regard this as an act of merit, then trade of manufacturing liquor is also an act of merit, as act of
