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Chapter Seven ETHICS OF RESPONSIBILITY
"If the world is will, it must be a world of suffering. And first, because, Will itself indicates want, and its grasp is always greater than its reach, for every wish that is satisfied, there remain ten that are denied. Desire is infinite, fulfilment is limited. It is like the alms thrown to a beggar, that keeps him alive today in order that his misery may be prolonged tomorrow ... As long as our consciousness is filled by our will, so long as we are given upto the throngs of desires, with their constant hopes and fears, so long as we are subject to willing, we can never have lasting happiness or peace. The realised desire develops a new desire, and so on, endlessly."
-Schopenhauer. Actions follow the Doer
Great minds think alike, and the depth of thought almost always digs out the same truth. The conclusions to which the great German philosopher Schopenhauer came to, were reached thousands of years ago by Indian philosophers too. 'Desires', according to them was the root cause of every karmic activity of a human being. They went deeper into the question and found out the root cause of all human problems which have afflicted the man-kind ever since its birth. Consciousness being the intrinsic attribute of the self, and the self being in association with Karmic matter called 'Pudgala' since time immemorial, the dynamism of the self, the spirit, is always guided and prompted by desires. The more the self desires, the more it remains busy with the activities which bind it more and more, and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth goes on endlessly till the self realises the futility of remaining permanently involved in the bondage of karmic fetters. It is this realisation which brings the turning point in the self's career in spiritual journey. It is at this point of time that the self is
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