Way of Life Part 3

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

Page 58

46
THE WAY OF LIFE
If the King insisted upon your acceptance of his religion and if you wanted to follow your own religion, you had to leave that Kingdom and go to another where the King respected all religions equally or where the King followed the same religion as yours. Only then you could carry out your spiritual activities fearlessly. Such was the case in those days. ONE SHOULD KEEP OFF THE UNWHOLESOME PRACTICES OR BAD TRADITIONS
From this point of view, the present day political arrangement is good. The constitution of India is secular. Equal respect has been accorded to all religions. People can follow the religion of their choice. People can also, propagate and preach their dharmas. They can expound to others the ideology of their respective dharmas. You can practise and preach your religion in any part of India and you can give expression to and disseminate the doctrines of your religion. Among the religious heads there are no quarrels. At present battles and wars for religion do not take place as they used to take place in olden days.
People in the past used to think of the King's traditions. That means they used to think of his moral and cultural level. People used to find out whether the conventions of the King were noble or ignoble. If the King followed unwholesome moral conventions people used to leave his Kingdom. They would not seek the refuge of such a King. There were also some ignoble Kings in whose Kingdoms women had no safety. If such a King saw a beautiful woman, he would send his soldiers to fetch her and then he would compel her to satisfy his desires, or he would make her his queen by force. This was an unwholesome practice or tradition. If an ignoble King saw wealth in the possession of, someone, he confiscated it. He seized all the wealth of an affluent person. Therefore, wealthy people lived in fear of the King and his officials and servants. . They used to keep their wealth concealed from the eyes of the King.
EXHIBITION OF WEALTH IS DANGEROUS
... Here is a story which took place when Kings ruled over Kingdoms. There was a King. He was a man of righteous con