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DISCOURSE 57
and then see whether you can concentrate your minds on spiritual austerities or not; and whether the flood of sinful thoughts abates or not. Without diagnosing your actual mistakes; and without endeavouring to reform yourself, if you keep saying: "This is the result of my sinful Karmas", and if you believe in that idea, you will be deceiving yourself. This is the worst kind of self-deception.
117
What are the 35 ordinary principles of the grihastadharma ? What is their essence? The essence of those principles is purity in the activities of the life of a grihasta or a householder. The ordinary grihastadharma is another name for purity in the activities of life. You live imitating one another. "We live as others do". This is your reply; is this not? Whose guidance do you take in respect of the activities of your life? You do not take anyone's guidance. You live a life of blind and thoughtless imitation. Even your spiritual austerities are based on blind imitation; are they not? You perform your spiritual activities in the manner in which others perform them whether they perform them according to prescriptions or not. On account of this tendency, many wrong practices and traditions have crept into Dharma.
THE FOREMOST DHARMA IS PURITY IN ONE'S CONDUCT AND ACTIVITIES
To-day, I am not going to discuss the foul and faulty traditions and practices that have crept into the sphere of dharma; but I will deal with an odd and intricate tradition prevalent in the life of householders. In this world, man earns money to spend. Already, I have explained to you how money should be earned. To-day I will explain to you how you should spend the money you have earned.
Jain Education International
Earning and spending are two of the most important activities of life. Just as nobility of conduct lies in earning money by legal and moral methods, even spending money in the right manner constitutes an aspect of pure conduct. Earning money is one thing but spending it is another. Just as earning money attains the level of dharma if it is done with intellectual vision; spending money also becomes a dharma if it is done with intel
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