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Jaina Philosophy and Religion rebirth, is extremely useful in improving the human society and making it righteous. The only object of the law is to urge man to refrain from evil acts and to perform good acts so that he may make gradual progress on the path of perfection and ultimately attain that perfection.
Doctrine of rebirth nourishes the feeling of benevolence and altruism and cultivates the tendency to perform duty readily and sincerely. The worldly fruits of benevolent activity and performance of duty are seen, yet if the miseries of life do not end, the upholder of the doctrine of rebirth is never disappointed and disheartened. Faith in the future life or birth keeps him firm on the path of duty and rectitude. He firmly understands that performance of duty can never be futile and fruitless. If it does not bear its fruit in the present birth, it will bear its fruit in the next one. Thus the belief in the better gain in the next birth keeps man engaged in wholesome activities. Moreover, one who is convinced of the fact of rebirth is not afraid of death. One who considers soul to be eternal and indestructible understands death to be nothing more than transfer of body. For him an event of death is like an act of putting off one coat and putting on another. He thinks that for those who are engaged in good activities death is a gate to the path of spiritual progress. In this way, when man conquers fear of death and understands the stream of life to be real, endlessly and eternally existent, continuously and uninterruptedly flowing, then he feels a strong urge-easily gained through power of discretion to make his life more and more elevated and to devote firmly to the performance of duty. One who is convinced of the eternality and indestructibility of the soul thinks as follows: "To do evil to others is to do evil to one's own self. To hurt others is to hurt one's own self. Enmity breeds enmity. Impressions of the acts done remain associated with the soul through many future births and make it experience their fruits; sometimes the length of the duration of this experience is long." A person who believes in soul and has this understanding considers all souls to be like his. So he experiences the feeling of friendliness with respect to them. In the warm light of friendliness the ice of attachment and aversion melts away. In this manner, his feeling of equanimity and equality is fostered and his universal love goes on developing. Even in the midst of differences of sects, caste, class, nationality and race his outlook of treating all beings as equal remains unobstructed and unabated. He thinks as follows: "Can I say as to in which sect, in which caste, in which class, in which nation (country) and in which condition, I shall be born
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