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DHARMA IN PRACTICE
FOI
· The object of life, it has been pointod out by cr'ery thinking man, is not living to eat, but eating to live. The Persian poet-has it :
(Tr. 'Eating is to sustain life and meditation;
Thou boldest it to be the (sole) object of living !")
The same considerations apply to political ambition, for what shall a man profit if he gain of the goods of the world but lose his own soul ? Accordingly, the poet asks the shade of the Great Warrior who had filled the world with deeds of his renown :
[Tr. How long didst thou live -
To what purpose killedst thou Dara (Darius) ?]
When the redoubtable Mahmud of Ghazni was on his deathbed, it is said that he had all the plundered wealth of India brought before him to pass it in review for the last time. It was a touching sight to see this old warrior who had carried pillage and sword no less than eleven times to India, lying with the stamp of despair on his ghastly face. There he lay surrounded by his warrior hosts, his weapons still lying within reach and his riches in front, but conscious of the fast-approaching Foe, and of his utter helplessness against it-a true picture of the final scene in the drama of world-power and its inevitable end ! Can we doubt after this that ahimsa is the highest religion, the dharma which sustains and supports ? Life is dear to all, and it is the recognition of the right to the joy of living in others that ensures our own joy. Sádi says :
Tr. Do not injure the ant which is a carrier of grain;
For it has life, and life is dear to all;)
It is wrong to imagine that we can prosper in defiance of dharma, or that ahimsa is the cause of political downfall. Were the Hindus vanquished by Mahomadans because they observed ahimsa ?-or because their mutual feuds and jealousies prevented
