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354
THE WAY OF LIFE
those noble emotions thus; amity for the jivas of your level and class; compassion for those in distress; love and admiration for those in prosperity and happiness; and neutrality regarding the sinful people. We are now discussing the quality of love for other jivas.
DO YOU FEEL HAPPY AT THE SIGHT OF OTHERS' HAPPINESS ?
The other name for pramod or love is felicity. There is a little difference between pramod and muditha or love and felicity only in respect of sound. But the sense is the same. In Sanskrit, the noun pramod is in the masculine gender and the word muditha is in the feminine gender but both the words have been derived from the same root namely 'Mud'. The meaning of both the words is happiness. Experiencing felicity at the sight of the happiness of others is Mudithabhavana.
"Traagfez fear . Do you feel happy over your own happiness or at the sight of others' happiness?
From the Audience : We feel happy over our own happiness, but we envy others' happiness.
Maharajashri : Change your heart. The jiva has been wandering about in Samsar for countless lives and this is the cause for it. You think of your own happiness and sorrows. It is this propensity that has made the jiva a sinner and has compelled him to wander about in Samsar endlessly. Selfish people are naturally jealous.
ABOUT PEOPLE WHO POSSESS THE MERIT OR PUNYA WHICH IMPELS THEM TO ACQUIRE MERIT
Just as you should love and admire the Arihant Paramatmas and Siddhas realising their supreme bliss, in the same manner, you must have love and admiration for the people in this world, who on account of their punya or merit which inspires them to acquire more merit, attain either the human state or the heaven
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