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168
ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
The wise man is horror-struck at the orgies of such fitful love. He has observed how the fickle Dame plays with her lovers; he has learnt the true nature of her seductive wiles. He therefore does not allow his senses to be fired with the warmth of her kisses. Her fragrant breath is powerless to steal away his wits. Thus alonethen alone is she overcome-enslaved !
Fortune, dear child, is only a metaphor. She is only the lovely reward of a lovely deed performed in the past! But you cannot expect any greater value than a howrie-worth of reward for a Kowrie worth of merit from nature. As soon as your Kowrie's worth is exhausted, there is an end to the beaming of smiling eyes for you! This is why fortune is fickle and capricious.
Begging and praying can only place you in the lap of fickle fortunes and faithless goddesses. But success depends on one's own exertion. If you are thoughtful, you, too, will know that the path of success lies not through the favour of any real or imaginary goddesses and gods, but consists in the triple confluence of the heavenly streams of Right Faith (that is, Right Beliefs), Right Knowledge and Right Conduct!
erznągingia anfangi m̃ngari:
(The Jaina Bible, i.e., Tattvartha Sutra I. 1.) Thus alone will you become worthy to wear a chaplet of unfading glory on your brow.
Kowrie means a small shell.
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