Book Title: Chitrabhanu Man with Vision
Author(s): Clare Rosenfield
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre New York

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 156
________________ directed it upward toward higher consciousness. This feeling was reinforced by his meditating on the following beautiful stanza which had first been uttered by Bhagwan Mahavlr more than twenty-five hundred years ago. चत्तारि परमंगाणि दुल्लहाणीह जन्तुणो । माणुसत्तं सुई सद्धा संजमंमि य वीरियं ।। "Chattāri param-angāni Dullahāni iha jantuno Mānusattam sui saddhā Sañjammami ya viriyam.” This stanza reminded him to appreciate “chattāri paramangāni," four supreme gifts, which were "dullahāni iha jantuno,” difficult to attain. First was “manusattam,” the gift of having been born into a human birth so that he could bring out his humanity. This point helped Munishree reflect upon his positive qualities rather than dwell on his weaknesses. Whenever he realized he was getting in touch with his life and with life around him, he became elated and happy. He resolved to use his life and every good thing which came into it as a nourishment. How can I make my humanness blossom? I will become the gardener to my own thoughts. I will weed out the negative elements and take care of the genuine flowers. Such thoughts will give life to my life and fragrance to all. He meditated on the second and third gifts, on: sui or the longing for wisdom and saddha, his love for truth. These two were great indicators of his quest. Becoming aware of these gifts became another reason to foster self-appreciation and to build self-respect. He came to realize that this longing to grow and free himself from limitations was the result of work in many previous lives. Now in this life, he had the chance to complete the journey. Munishree had deep faith in the path he had chosen. By steeping himself in the stanzas which meant the most to him, he developed the inner force to put them into practice. This step was the fourth gift, “sañjammami ya viriyam,” the inner vigor to integrate the teachings into one's life. He learned that 139 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326