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260
THE WAY OF LIFE
LOVE THE TENDENCY OF OFFERING ENCOMIUMS
Just as noble and cultured people do not condemn others, they also keep admiring and appreciating men of nobility and spiritual excellence. They do so because they love virtues. A man who loves virtues naturally appreciates the men of virtues. Whenever you hear such a man speak you will hear something about some great man and you will be able to hear hearty praise offered to virtuous people. If in your heart a fascination arises for this speciality of noble and cultured people then you will surely admire and praise them. Offering praise to great men is a distinguished virtue and we must have in our hearts love for that virtue. You may not, today, pay encomiums to any great man but at least you must have regard and esteem for those who glorify virtues. He who does not see defects in others and sees only merits can become an ardent admirer of virtues. Only an ardent admirer of virtues can pay fit encomiums to great men. Of course, this is not an easy thing to do. Even the ability to see virtues is a lofty kind of art. It is not an easy thing to see only merits in jivas because they are full of both virtues and vices but if you want it, you can make it an easy thing to do. It is neither impossible nor is it beyond one's capacity to attain it. If that were so, I would not have mentioned it. Defects are present in all jivas; yet you should not see defects in them. If you say, "Because there are defects in men, we see them", I say "There are also merits in men". Why are those merits not seen ? Why do not you see those merits? We see in others only those things that we love and only those things towards which we are irresistibly drawn. We see others in accordance with our own likes and dislikes. If you love virtues, you see virtues in others and if you desire to see defects in others, you will see only defects. In the bazaars of the world, all kinds of things are available. You will search for that object which you love and that market in which it is available. What is necessary is that, you must have love for that object. There are both virtues and vices in men. If you like virtues, you can see virtues in them. If you like faults, you can see faults in them. The meaning of this is, there is no rule that what actually exists comes into our view. We see what we desire to see in any object".
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