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DISCOURSE 11
of the Paramatma must be beautiful and attractive." Probably, you do not even think of this. Have you thought of this at any time ?
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WHAT KIND OF HOLY PLACES DO YOU LIKE TO VISIT?
Supposing in some holy place such a beautiful and attractive idol of the Lord is enshrined. Can you experience ecstasy at least by concentration on that image? Have you at any time concentrated your eyes on the eyes of the Paramatma? Have you spent at least an hour in seeing the Paramatma? Let us say you were in a temple where there was absolute serenity. There was no noise of people moving about. The whole atmosphere was peaceful, and sacred with the smell of incense and the brightness of lights. Even in such an atmosphere did you forget yourself, deeply absorbed in seeing the Lord and in glorifying him? Have you at any time become absorbed in concentration and meditation? But do you really like to go to temples where there are no people and where the atmosphere is absolutely serene. In going to holy places what is your objective? Is it really to see and worship the Paramatma? Do you really go there with the aspiration of crossing the ocean of life? No. You go to holy places not with devotion but with the idea that it is a picnic. Even there, you eat food in the night; even there, you eat prohibited food and even there you do not discard wicked desires at least for sometime. Some people go to holy places but they do not go to the temple. They remain in the choultry, playing cards or gossiping and thus wasting time, in their rooms which have all modern amenities. The Dharmashalas are being changed into abodes of sin. Are not the Dharmashalas in holy places becoming abodes of sin ? How meaningful is the name Dharmashala? Some magnanimous people build Dharmashalas to help people in carrying out their Dharma and people use them to carry out sinful activities. Is it not a sin against those magnanimous people? Even in our Jain pilgrim-centres, now-a-days, corruption has increased. The people of today are corrupt, you see.
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I insist upon your using holy places for only holy purposes. You go to holy places, visit the grand temples there; and attain
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