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SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE
We have begun a spiritual journey. It is a journey hitherto unknown. We are not familiar with the path we have to walk on. It is a new path and we are trying to make ourselves familiar with it. A spiritual journey is a journey into the depths of our being. The word adhyamma is a combination of two terms. The first is adhi which means inside. The other is ātmā which means the soul. From time immemorial man has been living outside his soul. He had never had the occasion to enter into it. He has developed a liking for all that exists outside it. He has been thinking that all that is valuable exists outside him and that there is nothing inside him. Even if there is a soul in him, it is merely an enjoyer of things which exist outside him. It is a receiver. If there were anything valuable in him, the soul will not seek sustenance from things which exist in the world outside. Man receives his physical, mental and spiritual sustenance from without because he feels there is nothing in him from which he can draw it. This has been his common experience. Till now he has been scrutinizing every atom which exists outside him. He has found vitamins and proteins to be valuable. In short he puts a value only on things existing outside him.
Jain Education International
We have begun a new search today. Ours is a journey into the soul. It is a spiritual journey. We have begun walking and searching within ourselves. Ours is a significant journey, a meaningful search. It signifies a change of attitude, a change of values. It signifies that there is nothing valuable outside us. It implies a new experience which tells us that whatever is valuable exists inside us. The value of outward things is nothing as compared with the value of things within There is a whole ocean of values seething and surging
us.
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