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THE BIRTH OF A BEAUTIFUL HOME
Jain Education International
When the excess reaches its climax, the road ahead is likely to reach a dead end. We may choose to ignore the rules of Nature, but we cannot escape them. The storm of consumerism is blowing across the planet at a terrific speed. Words like self-restraint, renunciation, integrity, and fixing a limit to our needs and desires are losing importance. When such words lose their meaning, the fall ahead becomes not only inevitable but also imminent. Externally, everything appears to be doing exceedingly well, but deep inside a process of antithesis has already begun.
The surge of consumerism and hedonism is the root cause of the gradual waning of the power of tolerance. The secondary consequence of intolerance is deterioration of mental strength and perseverance. In civilization's progress, mental strength and perseverance play a dominant role. No culture can cope with a difficult situation or advance without them. People with a lavish lifestyle, too much affluence, abundant means of ease and comfort and immense luxury invariably become mentally weak and timid, even when faced with ordinary sickness. It becomes impossible for them to abandon their comforts, and comfort and moral courage are generally mutually exclusive.
Both desire (kama) and money (artha) play a vital role in the rise and fall of society. As far as the management of wealth is concerned (arthvyavastha), there have been many thinkers who have pondered over the modification and amelioration of economic systems. For example, thinkers like Adam Smith (1723-1790) and Karl Marx (1818-1883) gave great insights into economic systems. But little has been done to understand the management of human passions and desires.
A person who has not refined or sublimated his kama will live a perturbed life of restlessness, discontentment and mental agitation. On the other hand, one who has succeeded
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