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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
and in view, even by the ordinary laymen and laywomen. The reason is that, to quote again J.L Jaini, "The mere insight into and knowledge of this Real Reality, is of everyday use in the conduct of our individual and collective lives. It is a true and the only panacea for all our ills. Its rigour may be hard. Its preliminary demand may occasion a wrench from our cherished habits, customs, and fashions of thought and action. But its result which is immediate, instantaneous and unmistakable, justifies the hardship and the demand. The relief and service, the sure uplift of ourselves, the showering of calm balm, by the practice of self-realisation, upon the sore souls of our brother and sisters, justify the price paid. Indeed it is merely the temporary yielding of a hollow, fleeting pleasure for the attainment of a real, permanent happiness and peace, which once gained, can never be lost. It's true, our passion-tossed hearts must keep us generally deluded, weak and imperfect. But, the practice of self-realisation makes us less weak and less imperfect, and it brings us one or many steps nearer that condition of our purified and strengthened consciousness which is free from delusion, weakness and imperfection. Self-realisation deals with our inner warring impulses and feelings by suppressing some, eliminating others; and by self-control, self-discipline and self-respect, regulation the others into a self-guided harmony, which is a helpful reflection of God Himself. Once you sit on the rock of self-realisation, the whole world goes round and round you like a crazy rushing something, which has lost its hold upon you and is mad to get you again in its grip, but cannot. The all conquering smile of the Victor (Jina) is on your lips. The vanquished, deluding world lies dead and impotent at your feet."
This is what the Jaina path or religion, or the Jaina way of life envisages and guarantees. It is built on the bed-rock of self-realization, the entire conduct is imbued with the spirit
