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THE WAY OF LIFE
indigent but he does not come to the temple to worship the Paramatma; he does not come to the Upashraya to listen to discourses or he does not perform spiritual austerities". May I hope that you will not censure such a man thus ? If a man praises such noble people in your presence and if those noble people happen to be your relatives, I hope you will not feel jealous of them. Feeling happy on hearing others praised is not an ordinary quality, but an extraordinary quality. It is easy to become virtuous but it is difficult to admire virtues in others. There is no such rule that all virtuous people should love virtues in others. Only he who is polite can love virtues in others and can admire them; and only he who does not desire fame or name or greatness in spite of being a virtuous person can love virtues in others and can admire them and such a man does not desire himself being praised. Those people who hunger for praise cannot praise others with an open heart; nor can they hear others praised.
ONLY WICKED PEOPLE LOVE SELF-GLORIFICATION
Wicked people take delight in praising themselves and hearing themselves praised. They cannot praise noble people; nor can they hear noble people praised. Such people cannot make their lives permeated with Dharma and cannot make their life as grihasthas glorious and noble. Therefore, I exhort you to give an important place to these ordinary principles in your life as a householder. Fill your life with these ordinary principles and make it bloom like a fragrant flower. If you heartily admire the noble actions of the cultured people, you too will become noble and you too will perform such noble actions. You should become noble. Should you not? In your obsession to acquire affluence you may probably forget your aspiration to get nobility.
SHRIPAL
AN IDEAL MAN OF ABSOLUTE NOBILITY
Among the countless interesting and instructive examples of ancient times, I feel the example of Shripal's nobility is the best. Shripal was a great man, absolutely noble and cultured. You will be greatly amazed to learn that Shripal obtained an absolutely pure and lofty guidance and instruction from his
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