Gandhi Before Gandhi

Author(s): Bipin Doshi, Priti Shah
Publisher: Jain Academy Educational Research Center Promotion Trust Mumbai

Page 77

A GANDHI BEFORE GANDHI
that has made it possible to elevate him from the archaic condition to the human condition. The gratitude which the individual owes to the Higher Self is boundless
With the performance of the five above named sacrifices, animal man becomes human. The law of the survival of the strongest in the barbaric stage of man's evolution, made him a destructive creature, so that all the time his animal nature prompted him to live on the sacrifice of others. With the turn of moral changes and civilization in his life, he no longer lives on the weak, but learns to protect them, and even makes sacrifices so that they may be happy and comfortable.
"A human being is a part of a whole,
called by universe a part limited in time and space
He experiences himself
his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest
a kind of optical delusion
of his consciounes. This delusion w a kind of prison for restricting us to our personal desires
and to affection for a few
persone nearest to w
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty
Abert Einstein
In reality the true sacrifice consists in giving up the lower nature, crucifying it on the alter of Higher Self thus becoming one with "Father in Heaven." This ancient truth was mangled and murdered by theologians in the East and the West; let us all join in reviving and restoring that truth to its former purity and thus help mankind in freeing themselves from the bondage of ignorance that is forced upon them.
spiritual nature, and if that person injures me in return he injures himself too, therefore that action is condemned by our religion and philosophy, The second kind is to keep mind in state of
gladness. That
is, to be glad at the
happiness or prosperity of other people; that is, never to be jealous. If a person becomes rich, simply be glad of that. The third thought is compassion, if we see a person or any being in a miserable condition. Let us have some pity for him, have compassion for him, sympathize with him, but never think he ought to suffer, because it is a just punishment. Of course it is just that he would suffer for his misdeeds, but we ought not to send any vibrations except those of sympathy, so that it would not make our own nature hard and cruel. The fourth thought, is indifference. That is a very dubious word. Of course we
Mental peace by Four kinds of pious thoughts. Friendship-Gladness-Compassion - Indifference.
One of the teachings given to us is that every person ought to cultivate four kinds of thoughts; one is friendliness, to consider all living beings as our friends and not our enemies at all. If any person injures us, we must only think in this way, that he is injuring himself, and, why should we injure him again in return? When I injure another person I have injured my