JAINA Convention 2011 07 Houston TX

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 90

EODOROTOCOOOOOOOORREESOEDERDADEROS JAINA CONVENTION 2011
"Live and Help Live"
task, in fact, it is very simple. If you ask a rose in full bloom whether the process of blooming was difficult, it will say, 'when I did not have to become a jasmine, why should it be difficult? I only had to bloom. There was joy in blooming and joy even after blooming.' Blooming is a natural phenomenon. How can that which is natural be difficult? Being natural is being normal, and being normal is always simple. Religion is to become steady in one's own nature. How can that be difficult?
flows towards others, is love. Bliss is like the water-laden clouds and love is like the showers that quench others' thirst. So long as water remains in the sky, the earth's thirst cannot be satiated. Only when this water pours down as rain and reaches the ground, can it satisfy others' thirst.
Bliss is the Self. Love is the body. Bliss is formless. Love has a form. Bliss is an experience. Love is an expression. Bliss is unmanifest. Love is its manifest form. Bliss is the poetry in a poet's heart and love is the poem that is revealed through the lips.
Do not keep wandering outside aimlessly. Your treasure is hidden within you and yet you beg elsewhere. Your kingdom lies within and yet you look for riches outside. Just change the direction of your search, look within and your life will be revolutionised. Why is it that you never undertake the journey within? You wander far away and count misery. You make preparations to go to the moon and stars, but not within. You turn a blind eye to that which is close by. The Self is the closest, but you believe it to be very far. The first thing therefore, is to realise that it is the closest. Then efforts should be made to become steady in it.
Love means 'you' are more precious than 'me'. Hatred and passion mean the 'I' is important; life is self-centered - 'I alone am the centre of the world, and the whole world is for me alone.' In love 'I' is not important, 'I' dissolves and the other becomes significant. Love is the desire for benevolence - benevolence for all. Not merely wishing-well for others but translating it into action.
Three Stages of Love Love has three stages-realization, experience and flow. First understand at the level of intellect, then experience at the level of emotions and then its expression in the outside world. These are the three dimensions of love - thought, experience and expression. Let us take a closer look at each of these stages.
When one's discriminative faculties are awakened and one sees that the external world cannot bring real joy, the inward journey begins. If you start the inward journey you will turn to your Self. And if you turn within, you will come close to that which will never leave you. Moreover, as you turn within, fountains of joy will spring forth. Not only will you be full of joy, you will also make the world joyous. The one who is happy also makes others happy. What else can he radiate but happiness?
(1) Thinking about Love the first stage is realization i.e. to understand love at the level of intellect. The whole universe is an integrated existence. Existence is unfragmented. Everything is linked. 'I am not an entity, separate from totality'. This is why love is of paramount importance. To understand its necessity and importance is essential.
If you are unhappy, then you have turned your back on God. The pursuit of religion is not escapism, is not cowardice, nor a matter of helplessness or weakness. If your heart overflows with joy, know that you are on the path of true religion and a religious person remains untouched, joyful and fragrant wherever he is!
(2) Experience of Love Thinking about love is needed, but that alone is not enough. It is necessary to go through the experience of love. Love is not just a philosophical concept. It is an experience. Thinking and understanding that, 'Existence is one continuous chain' is essential, but this should also be experienced. Only when you
Love in Action Bliss is what manifests in the heart and what
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