Book Title: Ratnakarandaka Shravakachar
Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Previous | Next

Page 225
________________ Verse 122 as inanimate, and an inanimate object, non-soul (ajīva), as animate. A deluded person breeds attachment to the body which is intimately bound to him, and with persons or objects like friends, clothes, houses, riches and geographical territories, which are not so bound to him. He desires their possession, ownership and company, and their separation brings about grief to him. He spends his whole life in acquiring and then protecting them, and their inevitable separation causes unbearable misery to him. He lives under the fear of death. All human beings who have not met with an untimely death pass through eight experiential stages in life – birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood, old age, and death. We are mostly dependent on others till we reach the stage of youth. In these formative years, most decisions pertaining to our upbringing are taken by others. As we reach adulthood, we become aware of our inherent likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and start pondering over matters like our objectives and goals in life. We take decisions on our career, family, and social life. By the time we reach the stage of advanced adulthood we have enough experience to look back to and vision to look forward to. We are mature enough to understand the meaning of life, its pleasures and pains. We are able to observe the ups and downs in the lives of people around us. More importantly, we are able to reflect on whether there is something we must do regarding the direction of our life, or live life just as it comes. In our worldly life we seek pleasure and try to avoid pain and suffering. No sooner do we make headway in acquiring and then using an object of pleasure than a feeling of its inadequacy creeps into our mind. We want something superior in terms of both, the quality and the quantum of pleasure. We become slaves of pleasure. Typically, we over-indulge at night, get a terrible hangover the next morning, but crave for the same thing again at the fall of the night. ........................ 199

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291