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THE WAY OF LIFE
and adore samyagdarshan (right vision), Jnan (right knowledge) and Charitra (right character). You must also think of the point that those sadhus lead a noble life and voluntarily bear with many difficulties and ordeals. Only if you contemplate and meditate upon this point will you develop a feeling of regard for your athithis (guests).
You must take one precaution. All athithis and sadhus are not of the noblest level. There are sadhus and athithis of all the three classes; namely, the noblest class, the average class and the lowest class. You should not expect the qualities of renunciation, austerity and self-discipline in all athithis. Let me also mention another point. You should never criticise those who are worthy of worship and reverence. Yes. If you know the truth fully that, "He is not a real sadhu but he has only put on the guise of sadhu," you must keep away from him. Do not get entangled in calumniations and scandals. The path of a sadhu is not an easy one; and all do not succeed in pursuing this path. Some of them also fall morally and go astray. But at the same time, just because you have seen some sadhus of that kind or because you have heard of such sadhus you should not generalise and say that all sadhus are pretenders. Angels are bright still though the brightest fell.
The propensity to see defects destroys the feeling of love (pramod).
The propensity to see virtues impels love (pramod) to
bloom.
The feeling of love (pramod) destroys derogations and increases virtues.
THE FEELING OF COMPASSION
Compassion means realising the sorrows of others and trying to remove those sorrows from their lives. This is the most important virtue in human beings. The first stage for spiritual development is compassion.
Grihasthas (householders) must render service to the needy and the indigent, according to their mite.
First, listen to this
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