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( 35 ) A Jain ascetic is not an idle fanatic who mortifies his body, and soils his soul. He lives a life of extreme activity, and joy. His asceticism has a fascinating charm, and what. seems a torture of the body to the ignorant is a delicious enjoyment of constantly increasing power and knowledge.
The joys of Yoga, of communion with the Highest, are only known to those who have experienced them. They are above all earthly pleasures ; they lead to heavenly happiness, and ultimately to the realisation, the attainment of God hood, Siddha-Sthána, Parmatma-Pada, where the soul is identified with limitless, perfect, direct, completest knowledge, of all that is, that was, that shall be, simultaneous, in all their varying forms and conditions, is supremely self-satisfied, is Omniscient and Omnipotent, for ever and ever, in the unend. ing eternity of Time and Space.
ANANT CHATURDASHI: The 13th September, 1932.
AJIT PRASADA.
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