Self Realisation

Author(s): Shrimad Rajchandra, Govardhandas
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram

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The Self Realization
Real peace lies in contentment. By contentment the soul obtains equanimity, discrimination and lasting joy. The Soul has much lost by infatuation and sloth due to ignorance of its true nature. It is advised to wake up from killing slumber and lose no time in expenditing its salvation. Wise men do not future wait for opportunities, they strive for liberation in the present by all possible religious ways and leave the future to its own fortune. Their sense of the value of time is admirable. Discrimination is the light to recognise the soul in darkness. By discrimination religion is sustained and maintained. Religion without discrimination is meaningless. To understand truth and untruth as they are is known as discrimination. Non-attachment is the only guide to the soul to its lasting happiness. To aspire for lasting happiness in the pursuit of the pleasures of the world is to live in a fool's paradise.
In the lessons on the differences of opinion and beliefs of different religions of the world, Srimad argues that while all other religions are incomplete or imperfect paths to God-realization, Jain religion is complete and perfect as it has elaborately described the nature of reality and the nature of the sure method of Soul's salvation. The founders of Jaina religion were omniscient. Their description of sympathy, celibacy, chastity, discrimination and non-attachment is unique. Besides, it contains minute descriptions of pure knowledge of the Self, its hierarchical gradations and the mutations of the soul's states in samsara. In the lesson on celibacy Srimad declares nine prohibitions conducive to the observance of celibacy. The lessons on Jaina philosophical doctrines are lucid and simple expositions useful for every student of Jaina philosophy and religion. Srimad has also enumerated the eighteen obstacles to the control of mental modifications which a seeker of Self-realization should remove from his life.
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