Way of Life Part 2

Author(s): Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana

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THE WAY OF LIFE common now-a-days. Another new fashion is to go to clubs and to gamble; and going to parties and drinking liquors; going to non-vegetarian hotels and eating eggs, omelet, etc; and spending nights in the houses of prostitutes. Those people who want to carry out these "holy rituals", of course, need a lot of money. Without money, you cannot enjoy these pleasures. In order to earn money for these pleasures, people have to take recourse to immoral and illicit means to earn money. But if I should tell you the truth, the path of salvation is not at all meant for them. They of course, would rush gleefully on the primrose path of dalliance to everlasting ruin. These discourses and sermons are not meant for those people who seek physical and sensual pleasures and who follow the ways of the world, and who are slaves to fashions, addictions and imitations. The seekers after pleasure do not care for the principles of morality and honesty and lawfulness. They want only money. It does not matter what means they adopt to earn money. What they want is money. If they can get money by running a brothel, they are ready to run a brothel. I have heard that some Jains are running even cinema-theatres. How highly censurable it is ! Do you know how to run cinema-theatres and brothels ?
Question: We agree that it is highly immoral to run brothels, but we wonder how running a cinema-theatre is immoral or illegal ?
Answer: The cinema provides the inspiration to people to go to brothels. It also encourages such evils as stealing, wickedness, robbery, and various other sinful activities. The cinema-theatre is the water-booth of countless sins. It is a fountain of all sins. Do you understand ? There can be no other sin as seeing cinemas. The cinemas affect the moral excellence of countless people. It inspires countless people to become thieves, robbers and vagabonds. Is this occupation of running a cinema-theatre a noble one ? Only those who are greedy of money can follow such an occupation. Only those who do not realise the tremendous harm, the cinema does to people can run cinema-theatres. I agree that people may earn a few lakhs of rupees by running a cinema-theatre but that money will not remain with them. Even if that money remains