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THE WAY OF LIFE
Maharajashri : You have a heart but it is impure. It is unkind. It is cruel. You have a heart; yet you are heartless. That is the case. That is why I say that an operation has to be performed on your hearts and that you must get an operation performed on your hearts. The thorns of greed sticking in your hearts must be removed. Greed for wealth and other cravings have changed your hearts. The greed for wealth has brought about the greatest calamity in the world. Immorality, illegal activities, deception and many other evils have originated from the greed for wealth.
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EVEN THE GREAT ROMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSED
2. The craving for physical beauty is not less than the craving for wealth. Many enormities like abduction of women, rapes and murders take place on account of the craving for the company of beautiful women. It is immoral to force a woman or to abduct a woman. The immorality brings about a total ruin in the life of a man. If a king commits such enormities, the kingdom itself falls. If a wealthy man or if a man of position and power commits such enormities his family will be ruined. But a man who is blinded by Abhinivesh or evil propensity cannot visualize the future. What happened to the last Roman Emperor, Torquin? How did he fall? How did the Roman emperors court disasters? This immorality caused their fall. The Emperor, Torquin became deeply infatuated with the extraordinary beauty of Lucretia, a Roman matron of absolute chastity, purity and integrity. She belonged to a highly respectable family. Her father and her husband were greatly respected by people. The Emperor's counsellors advised him not to wish for the company of Lucretia and not to treat his subjects thus. They told the Emperor that Lucretia was like his daughter or like his sister and that he should not desire her company; but the Emperor who had been blinded by infatuation did not heed their advice. He ordered Lucretia to be brought forcibly to his palace. He raped her and then she was sent out of the palace. When Lucretia was going on a road wailing over the calamity that had occurred to her, a large number of Romans gathered
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