JAINA Convention 2017 07 Edison NJ

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

Page 85

ਦੀ ਡੀ
ਡੀ
ਵੀ
ਡੀ
ਵੀ
ਡੀ
ਵੀ ਡੀ ਡੀ ਓ ਵੀ ਵੀ
ਵੀ ਚ ।
JAINA CONVENTION 2017
Cause and Effect Relationship
Every effect has to have a cause. If you are in bondage, then there is a cause for that too. Understand its nature and remove it through the right means and you will see that along with the cause, the bondage also disappears. It is possible to overcome that cause provided you put in right effort. Remember, no one other than you, has put you in bondage, so no one, other than yourself, can liberate you.
The problem is, you do not pray for strength to uproot the causes of your bondage. On the contrary, you entertain those causes and pray that their effect is negated. You wish to get angry, and then pray for peace. Instead, pray that the anger does not arise; steer your contemplation in such a way that anger is no longer born within you. Know that you are the creator of your bondage. Annihilate its cause and bondage will certainly go away. The cause of your bondage is that you have not followed the laws of life. Understand those laws precisely, follow them scrupulously, and you will be able to liberate yourself from bondage forever. You alone can. You alone must.
There are No Miracles
You desire freedom from sorrow, but mere wishful thinking will not suffice. Even though a Compassionate One may want to save you, and you too wish to be saved; yet mere feelings are not enough. Nothing can break the law of cause and effect. Why then do you pray for miracles? A true seeker does not want to believe in miracles. He will view each incident in such a scientific manner that there remains no possibility of miracle or deceit. If someone claims to convert water into vapour at 600 C, then you must realise that either the thermometer is faulty or he is under a delusion. If vapours form, the temperature has to be 1000 C. There is no question of any miracle here.
If miracles were possible, then it would mean that the laws of the universe were biased and they could be reversed in order to favour someone. Is it possible that if angry at someone, vapour will not form even at 1200 C, and if pleased with another, water will vaporise even at 600 C? No. This is not possible. Water can be converted into vapour only at 1000 C. It can never become vapour before that, and it is not possible that it does not vaporise at 1000 C. The laws are neither strict towards some nor lenient towards others. Indeed, the understanding and acceptance of the universal laws is dharma. And the One who explains these laws to us is God. He is not One who can miraculously create anything against these laws.
Understanding God and dharma as other than this is missing out on their real essence. Those who misunderstand them follow imaginary means to attain liberation. 'If I pray intensely, if I eulogise the Lord, some miracle will happen, something new against the laws will happen.'