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જેન યુગ
ઓકટોબર ૧૯૫૯
of an animal or a plant or other lower forms. If for no other reason, at least to make us strive for higher evolution of soul or to make us cautious against the greater degradation of soul, we may assume the higher stage of Heaven and the lowest stage of Hell. Thus we may divide the living beings or the embodied souls under four categories, viz. Heavenly, Human, Subhuman and Hellish according to the degree of evolution of soul. When soul has evolved to perfection, i. e. got rid of matter, it can no longer remain in a body (which is matter) but becomes emancipated, perfect, possessing its inherent qualities unalloyed. That is the stage of Godhood, Parmatman, Nirvana or Moksha.
to get intoxicated is bad and yet we find people becoming repeatedly mad with intoxicants. The same applies to other acts.
The whole universe is governed by definite laws, the laws of nature. There are laws which concern matter, similarly there are laws which concern the soul. Modern science is busy with the former and has neglected soul. It has enabled man to send satelites thousands of miles away from Earth even to the Moon. It has enabled man to break atom. It has shown man what a tremendous energy is released by breaking an atom and man's researches in the domain of matter continue. There have been men who have made researches in the domain of soul of which we have mentioned above. They have also shown that soul and its combination with matter and also its dis-association are also governed by certain definite laws of nature. They have also discovered the infinite Power of Soul. This science concerning soul is called Religion. It is a pity that modern man has been neglecting this most important branch of knowledge, which shows him the way to happiness during this life and next and the orthdox have degraded it to a mass of superstition and rituals, having no bearing with the purification of the soul and have even made it a means to exploit the ignorant masses. Religion has thus lost its appeal in modern times.
Matter is indestructible, it only changes forms. So is soul indestructible and it only changes its form. Both are governed by certain definite laws. Religion deals with laws relating to soul. In accordance with these laws soul assumes the form of a human being, which is comparatively in a higher stage of the purification or evolution of soul, or it assumes the forms
We have said that the embodied soul is groping in the dark and follows the path of trial and error. He runs after happiness and in this he clashes against the happiness of others and a conflict starts and instead of happiness, a vicious circle starts creating an atmossphere of callousness. No one can be happy in an atmosphere of callousness. Sometimes he takes to intoxicants to forget misery but thereby he does not get rid of it. Adoption of this method makes matter worse and all people know what happens when a person becomes addicted to drinks. Again some times he comes under the influence of anger, pride, deceipt, avarice and the like and thereby loses the balance of mind and the power of judgement and discrimination. This means the basic property of soul viz. knowledge and consciousness becomes blurred and soul gathers more of foreign matter which is against the desired end. Moreover in the practical world we see these things create enemies and a chain of reactions starts making everybody unhappy. Thus in his pursuit of happiness. he gets unhappiness. Then
