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TEACHINGS
93
5. A gloomy view of the world. The world as painted in the words of Mahāvira presents a gloomy picture It represents that state of existence of the soul in which it has to undergo repeated births and deaths and all their concomitant experiences. It is samsara or course of life and death which appears like a boundless flood of water with its dangerous current. Earth, water, fire, and air, all contain lives. The senses and mental faculties become manifest in varying degrees in various forms of beings. Man finds himself in an awful situation where he has to work under the influence of affection, passion, and attachment. The world presents a constant scene of quarrel and strife, death and carnage, and of all mad pursuits of life, the ultimate end of which is utter disappointment. For the sake of food and drink, lodging and comfort, woman and wealth, a man is involved in various works that lead the soul from sin to sin. Attached to the agreeable sounds and colours, tastes and smells, touches and perceptions, in short, to all seductive pleasures of the senses, the living beings suffer and find no escape from pain. The path to these pleasures is the path to birth, disease, decay, and death. A reflection on these conditions of the world as one daily sees them all around leads a man away from
