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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
160
animals at sacrifices, ate meat and forced even common people to eat meat in the name of prasad (God's gift). Therefore, Lord Mahāvira declared that we should examine the soundness of dharma by the exercise of our intelligence and then accept it if it is wholesome. Non-violence and ethical excellence constitute the very life of dharma; they are like oxygen for the existence of dharma. Dharma or religion cannot exist in their absence.
How did the Indian propagators of dharmo carry out their task of preaching dharma? In this country, dharma was not preached on the basis of mere shastras or with a desire to acquire wealth. The propagators of dhrama always tried to expound their theories by way of logical reasoning. A man who has renounced life would not desire the wealth of others. The propagator of dharma wandered from place to place and tried to enlighten and brighten the minds and souls of people by means of hi discourses. Hence, people became familiar with the true dharma and accepted it. The propagators of true dharma do not merely preach it. They also act according to it and practise their precepts, thus enabling people to acquire true knowledge and to realise that dharma is nothing but walking in the light of true knowledge. When we meet a man of high position, someone introduces him to us. In the same manner, dharma introduces our soul to us and makes us realise its true nature. Some people want to show themselves to be dharmātamās but they cannot bc dharmātamās without purity of thought, feeling and action. If you ask a spoon how the stikhand (a preparation of curds and sugar) tastes, it will say that the dish is tasteless. The same thing applies to most people who preach dharma without practising it. You may go to religious places and you may perform religious rituals. But if you do all that to show that you are a religious person, you will not taste the sweetness of religion. All those things will be tasteless to you. We should get pure joy from the performance of religious austerities. They are not to be carried out as a matter of formality and imitation without a true knowledge of those activities.
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