Book Title: The Truth
Author(s): O P Jain
Publisher: Veer Nirvan Granth Prakashan Samiti

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Page 75
________________ 66 THE TRUTH It is, therefore, necessary in the interest of Dharma itself, that one follows rules of healthy living e.g., exercise, cleanliness of body, clothes and surroundings, nourishing and easily digestible food etc., and that he works hard to earn a living. For purposes of defence of the country, culture and our dharma from external aggression, it is equally necessary to be strong scientifically, economically and physically. Dharma does not come in the way in these efforts on a national scale. There is no minimum standard laid down to follow dharma and one should practise it to the extent he can control his passions. But there should be a longing to raise the limit by controlling the desires more and more. The most dangerous tendency, against which one should guard, is the habit to justify our weaknesses of conduct on some ground or other and thus clear the conscience. Such a person can never improve. A bad act of himsa, falsehood, unchastity etc., must always be identified as such and no attempt made to justify it, even though one is not able to leave it. There can never be any acceptable justification for such acts, except weakness of conduct. In short, Dharma only requires us to do all deeds, physical or mental, with discrimination and with full control over the self. There can be no two opinions about the usefulness and necessity of such a conduct. The practice of Dharma, in external appearance, is bound to change with time and place, and there should be no conservative orthodoxy in this respect. However, the basic truths do not change and our conduct must always conform to them. The self alone is true, good, lovely, real, moral. The non-self is error, myth, mithyatva, ugly, deluding, detractor from and obscurer of reality, immoral, worthy of shunning and renunciation, as bondage and as anti-liberation. The Pure, All-Conscious, Self-absorbed Soul is God and never less or more. Any connection, casual or effectual, with the non-self is a delusion, limitation, imperfection, bondage. To obtain liberation or Deification, this connection must be destroyed. Thus and then the bound soul, di bandah, becomes the Liberated Soul lui Khuda. Self comes to Self, who wis Zat-e-paka, “Pure Entity". The man becomes Man. The son of man returns to His Father in Heaven, Man becomes Himself. Man becomes God... Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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