________________
sensuality etc. may give him momentary happiness in this life, yet, a very horrible consequence of all these vices will befall him in the next world and, therefore, he should not fall a prey to those vices, because, though the present life is very short, yet, the life hereafter has a very long duration. One should not, therefore, spoil one's next life for the sake of the petty happiness of this life. Thus life can become pure and sacred if we keep the next world uppermost in our mind and sincerely guard against sin. This will definitely reduce the horrible miseries which aflict human life because of the sins and the vices. A man who lives a life in accordance with the tenets of Jainism will definitely have the idea of a life hereafter uppermost in his mind and will always fear sin. Thus Jainism teaches these basic traits of a life that is on the approach road to liberations and along with this, it also imparts many other virtues by means of which, a lot of benefit accrues to the family, society and the country at large.
This directly concerns the basic matter of human welfare. But Jainism goes one step further and points out the various duties to be performed in man's spiritual progress, the practices conducive to right faith, the activities of the householder who has undertaken the vows, in so far as they concern his external and internal attitudes, as also, the pure behaviours and acts that charactrise a Jain monk. This path is so gradual and so constructive that it enables a man to know for sure as to how he can spiritually advance by first measuring his own ability. Thus man is able to know with confidence that he has
32
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
