Book Title: Jainism and Modern Thought
Author(s): M M Shroff
Publisher: M M Shroff

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 42
________________ 73 Here the literary sentence, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The 'Is' part ss his character. Jainism contends that character is the sum-total of his habits which are formed by conscious acts preceded by thoughts. Hence, un abridgement we can say that good and wise thoughts are necessary for a great and strong character which is a diamond that scratches cvery other stone Thus he who follows Truth and Non-solence (SATYA and AHIMSA) the highest ideals of Jainism nay, of every life, is sure to find himself cventuolly at the gates of paradise. Life is not, for mere passing pleasures, but for the highest unfoldment that one can attain to the noblest character that one can grow, and for the greatest service that one can render to the whole of humanity in this the only real pleasure lies He who enquickens himself to find that by short cuts, will inevitably find his last state always worse than his first, and still continues to proceed upon the same paths he will dever find real and lasting pleasure at all. The springs of life are all from within. This being true, it would be well for every soul to give more time to the improvement of innerlife rather than to the achievement of worldly gains, as there is a great deal of unmapped country within us. There is nothing that will bring as such abundant retorns as to take little time in the quiet to contemplate each day of our lives. Everyone needs this to get the kinks ont of one's mind and subsequently

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103