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DISCOURSE 24
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3. Oh soul ! Enmity destroys your own merit. The feeling of enmity destroys all your auspicious Karmas. Why should you have enmity with anyone ? All jivas are puppets, in the hands of Karmas. The strange ways of Karma are boundless. Never entertain malicious thoughts even with respect to those who are hostile to you. Hostilities and animosities do not bring any glory to noble people. Your nobility lies in your equanimity. A noble man with hostilities is wicked.
Always endeavour to cultivate amity thus. THE EMOTION OF COMPASSION
A tender heart is the source from which all virtues spring. Virtues originate only from the tenderness of heart. Of these virtues, compassion is the noblest. Compassion is that emotion which impels a man to see the sorrows of others and to help them to get rid of their sorrows. Do you like to get rid of your own sorrows or the sorrows of others ?
From the Audience : We, of course, weep over our own sorrows.
Maharajashri : In that case, the essentials of Dharma cannot enter your heart. Without compassion for those in sorrow, you will not have even the fitness to carry out spiritual austerities. Worth or fitness is expected in a man who desires to perform spiritual activities. The spiritual austerities carried out without such fitness or worth cannot chasten your soul. The soul cannot become the supreme soul. Virtues cannot arise or develop in such a soul. The heart that lacks compassion is cruel and callous. Dharma cannot penetrate a cruel heart. Cruelty does not consist merely in causing violence to others, killing jivas. But it is also cruelty on your part if you do not experience sorrow on seeing the sorrows of others. Cruel people can never gain access to Dharma. They cannot get admission into the sphere of Dharma.
From the Audience : We have already been admitted into the sphere of Dharma.
Maharajashri : You have gained admission unofficially. You have not been officially admitted into the sphere of Dharma.
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