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A Hidden Cheat Code to Life
- Chintav Shah
Many of us have a difficult time applying the Jain knowledge we learn to our daily lives. Mahavir Swami gave us the knowledge, but he left applying it to us. The karma theory, when applied to our daily lives, can lead us to cut sadness and anger entirely.
So I urge you to try this soon - tomorrow - the next time anything adverse occurs to you, repeat to yourself, “This needs to happen for something beneficial to occur in the future, I just don't know what it is yet." Get this idea through your brain from this day forth, and your outlook on life will change extraordinarily. Avoid the immediate anger and sadness at all costs; in fact, smile that the experience occurred and people will begin to admire you.
Every human being must face pain, but he is judged by how he reacts to it.
The karma theory states that all events in our life are governed by and determined by our past karmas. Take any negative or bad event that occurs in one's life. Any adverse or negative event that occurs is a result of one of two reasons. The first reason a negative event can occur is if you had previously done something ethically wrong. For example, you copied every single homework assignment throughout the school year and once the final exam came around, you failed miserably. In essence, the reason that you failed your finals is because your bad karmas simply came into fruition.
The second reason a negative event can occur is to allow you to encounter or experience some other more beneficial event. Here's an example of this reason - imagine you miss the school bus, and end up having to walk to school, but on that walk you find a $20 bill on the ground. To sum it up, the second reason that a bad event happens is for something even greater to happen in the future.
If you are angry, sad, or flustered after every negative event in your life, you will live miserably. If you accept that it was meant to happen because either you brought it upon yourself (reason 1) or because something better is supposed to come out of it (reason 2), then you can live a much more happy, satisfied, and calm life. The secret is to tell yourself that every negative or unlucky event that occurs in your life from this day forth is because of the second reason. Next time you miss an exit off of the highway, don't curse your luck; rather, say to yourself, "I just missed this exit because it was meant to happen." Who knows, maybe missing that exit prevented a traffic jam or a car accident.
Jainism: The Global Impact
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