Jain Gazette 1920 06

Author(s): Jagnanderlal Jaini, Ajit Prasada, C S Mallinath Jain
Publisher: Jaina Gazette Office

Page 28

138
THE JAINA GAZETTE.
which is the last Ashrama. The out-look of life is completely changed now; the earlier ideals are all gone, and the ascetic whole-heartedly aspires for Moksha and nothing but Moksha. HA lingers in the world till he obtains Nirvana, or till death sends him to other regions, where with the merit accumulated by asceticism he begins life afresh, better equipped to combat death and the forces of Karma and transmigration.
Such, my friends, is the brief but scientific explanation of the divisions of life in the ancient Indian civilisation, which alone can help us in the speedy realisation of our cherished ideal of eternal felicity and joy. As for disharmony and discord, these are encountered only when things are done topsy-turvy. If you try to climb to the roof by hap-hazard jumps and flights in the air you will certainly come to grief. But this is simply because you do not resort to the ladder which is necessary to maintain the harmony of utility between the several parts of a building. Similarly, the indiscriminate chaotic observance of the rules appertaining to the different Ashramas of life is only calculated to lead to trouble. If we would attain to the coveted heights of perfection that we seek we should pass through the different Ashramas in their proper order, pausing every now and then to note our shortcomings, and removing them and their causes. Indiscriminate action, the failure to observe the proper order of the numerous stages and steps and even undue haste to pass from one stage into another will only end in bringing discredit upon yourself and your Dharma. It is true that we now and then read in our Puranas of men who reached perfection in Sannyása on the instant, but these are only exceptions. It is obvious that we all cannot hope to attain perfection that way, just as we all cannot expect to become rich like the man who left his home to earn his living, but who met with an accident and fell down in an adjoining field only to discover that he had stumbled on a treasure-trove, so can we not expect to follow the example of those favourites of fortune whose powerful good Karmas of an earlier life bore fruit in an instant, on the destruction of the causes of obstruction in the way.
I should now like to point out to you the traditions associated with the institution where you have spent several years of your childhood and pupilage and which some of you are about to leave.