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જૈન યુગ
30
ઓક્ટોબર ૧૯૫૦
what is his guide ? We see in this world that one man runs after luxuries, while the other sacrifices his wealth, his power and his everything, the aim of both is happiness. One practices continence and the other adultery, the ultimate aim being the same. But contrary acts cannot bring the same result. The question arises, which is the right way and what is the guide. Religion was always believed to be the guide and the Seers ordained certain rules for the purpose. These were the moral laws or rules of morality. Different seers made different rules for different categories of people. Some said the Fear of God was the beginning of wisdom.
Some described the joys of heaven and the good things for the man in this world as the reward for good deeds and the torture in hell as the punishment for evil deeds. All these proverbs and rules based on these sayings kept men on the right path. But today the faith in God and the seers and their sayings has gone. Nodody believes in the reward of Heaven or the punishment of hell. In the mad pursuit of supposed happiness, he disdains religion and says 'a bird in hand is worth two in the bush'. Why should I restrain myself from doing any act which gives me pleasure simply because somebody says it will lead to disaster. The talk about soul, its evolution or degradation, about God and Religion is regarded as all nonsense. Happiness is regarded as consisting of the ever rising standard of living even of the rich. This needs money. Money has to be obtained by establishing colossal industries and exploiting the undeveloped world by forcing the products of these industries on them. Competition starts among the
various manufacturing countries to prcduce cheaper goods by exploiting labour and to capture markets by threat or force of arms. Wars start and spread ruin and then wars start to prevent wars and the world is rushing to its doom. Mad rush of materialism has thrown to the winds all standards of morality and decency. Corruption and crimes are increasing in the world. Neither capitalism nor socialism or communism can stop this rot.
The only way to stop this rot is to change the trend of human thought. Matter should not monopolise human thought. The existence of soul and its inherent qualities must be accepted. The reasons why those qualities get corroded inust be studied, how the corrosion can be minimised or avoided and got rid of must be found out. Man must be taught to act on the principles so established.
It must not be thought that all this talk about soul and religion concerns only the life after death, that the preaching for purification of soul is only for Nirvana or Moksha or Godhood. Moksha is the ultimate aim or the Ideal. In reaching that stage, a soul has to pass through different stages of purity or evolution and at every stage, he feels and enjoys more and more of the inherent qualities. If we look to 'mankind. some are more fortunate than others because of higher evolution of soul. But in the flush of fortune if they forget the truth and attract impurities to their soul by their actions not only the evolution stops but degradation also sets in. A human being must therefore never neglect this alertness and always keep the ideal before himself. Only if man wakes up to this reality, the world can be saved from the doom that is threatening it.
