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Courteous and Sympathetic Attitude
him and talk about his problem. The man used to listen patiently and extended the appropriate relief. He has died, but he has left his scent behind. If there is a person of that calibre in the family, other members also would be induced to cultivate similar attributes.
Such a person is benevolent at heart. He weighs the importance of his work and that of others, and extends help to others even at cost to himself. Nowadays such persons are getting rare. When asked for help; most people would say 'Excuse me, I have no time’. They would actually have enough time and by giving such replies they simply happen to pamper their indolence. Truly busy persons can manage to spare time even out of their busy schedule.
2,600 years ago Lord Mahaveer had asked Gautamswämi not to waste even a fraction of a second in indolence. The time of an indolent person gets wasted in laziness. Many people continue to lie in bed after waking up. They spend hours in sluggishness and think about unnecessary aspects. It is therefore advisable to get up from the bed as soon as we wake up, to remember the Lord and embark upon the work; otherwise indolence would take us in its hold. Remember that work is worship; that will keep us light, hale and hearty.
Religion should not cause any fright even in the name of death. Its role is to make us fearless by teaching that death is a resting place, it is friendly. A religious person knows that birth and death are the steps on the journey of life that ultimately leads to the summit of liberation. If we become helpful to others during that journey, they would also try to help us. What, however, happens is that we raise expectation in our mind without doing anything for others and start complaining, if others do not behave as per our expectations.
Parents and children, mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, employers and employees, ministers and public, all have complaints against each other of not doing according to the expectations. After getting votes in the election, ministers hardly show their faces to the people and expect that the people should behave as they suggest. No expectation can, however, be realized unless there is some degree of
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