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...those who misunderstand Shrutajnana
The pursuit of the three-fold path will bear fruit only when it is properly done. Otherwise, the whole effort results in a waste. Just as in the worldly affairs, propriety is insisted upon, in spiritual pursuit too it is. In fact, it is more so here.
Quite often it is noted that a person loses faith if he does not derive the desired benefit in spite of observing the religious vows and rituals that have been pursued as customs. When vows and fasts, that are observed with the intention of thwarting some impending dangers, fail to do so, then man says, "Religion is useless. I did this and I did that, yet I did not get any result." And then he stops observing those vows.
This view needs to be given a thought. Do such rituals and observances prevent the worldly sorrows? And if they don't are they falsehood? Had these observances alone been the solution to adversity, then man would not have the need to make any other effort. He would complete the observances somehow, but that is not the case. It is true that Dharma helps in adverse times, but how?
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During times of distress, the religious view tells us that the sorrows that have befallen us are the result of our own past doing - karma. Hence, maintain your equipoise, do not get disturbed. Do not blame anybody else. It is not because of others that you are in sorrow, but of your own hidden reasons. Hence, there is no choice but to bear it with equipoise. If this equipoise is maintained, if the balance is not lost even amidst the worst of pains, then the sorrow of many births can be got over.
Gajsukumar and Muni Metaraj maintained such equipoise that they could remove the sorrows of not one but many births. They had risen above the feeling of the body. "Whatever is happening is happening to the body. I am but the soul. Separate
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