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THE WAY OF LIFE
in us. Therefore, that image is worthy of being seen, revered and worshipped. Anything that inspires in us sublime and pure feelings is worthy of reverence and worship. This is our feeling of gratitude for the cause. We cannot be men of Dharma without reverence and adoration for our benefactor. It is humanity at least to be grateful to benefactors. It is essential to honour the benefit that we get from a cause. If you do not consider a cause as a benefactor, then you cannot consider even your Gurumaharaj as a benefactor. The Gurumaharaj is but a cause.
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Question: The Gurumaharaj is not inanimate. He is a living being.
Answer: Then, you consider all living beings as your preceptors! Even a dog is a living being. Then revere it as a preceptor. There is life or consciousness in a dog or a donkey. Why do you not consider them as preceptors? That is so because a dog or a donkey does not inspire in you lofty emotions. In other words, they are not causal in inspiring in you lofty emotions. Even a dog becomes a Guru if it can inspire in someone some kind of sublime emotion or thought. Whether a cause is an animate or an inanimate thing, is not a very important matter. What is important is that it must inspire in us a sublime thought or emotion.
The Chief Minister Pethad Shah had a great reverence for celibacy; so he revered Bhim shravak who was a celibate person; and for this reason, there appeared in his heart a feeling of reverence for the presentation sent by that celibate person. If you really revere virtues, then you will also develop reverence for men of virtue. You realize that you do not really love virtues and adore them, if you are jealous of men of virtues; if you hate their fame, and if you have such base feelings as contempt for them. Celibacy is a great virtue. If you have adoration and admiration and love for that virtue, you will also revere those people who possess that virtue. If you have such an adoration for any person, then even his ordinary gifts are received by you with a feeling of joy.
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