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DISCOURSE 24
405 LEARN TO SCRUTINIZE YOUR OWN SOUL
Whatever spiritual austerity you want to perform, you first understand who has described it. See if it is not described by a man of attachments and hatred. See whether the exponent is trustworthy, impartial, neutral and a Jin (one who has attained victory over attachments and hatred). After determining this point, you must carry out the austerity in the manner prescribed by the exponent. You must respect those prescriptions and rules. You must think of the time prescribed for the performance of the austerity. You must also bestow your thought on the right emotion prescribed for the performance of the austerity. After doing all this, you must search your heart and see whether it is chastened and ennobled by the lofty emotions of amity, compassion, love and neutrality. In other words, you must see whether your thoughts are interfused with the emotion of amity; whether they have been rendered tender by compassion; whether they have been elevated by love and whether they have attained a state of equanimity by means of neutrality.
YOUR DESTINY IS IN YOUR HANDS
Your thoughts and emotions play an all-important role in shaping your destiny. Heraclitus said, “Man is the architect of his destiny". This is true. You should not forget the great truth that you are the architect of your destiny and no one else can shape it. Not even God can shape or change your destiny. The tree of your future will bear fruits in accordance with the seeds of thoughts and feelings that you sow in the land of your soul. A mango tree cannot grow out of a neem seed. From the neem seed only a neem tree can sprout and grow. If you want a mango tree, you must plant a mango seed. If you are not cautious and careful in sowing the right seeds; if you are not intellectually aware of what you are doing, your future will be dark, black, bleak and blasted with the winds of anguish. Hence, Shraman Bhagwan Mahavir said,
"Walk with caution, sit with caution, eat with caution; drink with caution and speak with caution". Caution means here
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