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SHREE CHITRABHANU
CA
are lucky we find some guidance to do this, which I call religion—that which helps to sustain us in our journey to excellence, to completion, to freedom.
Jainism is that idea. It is not any dogma. It is not a religion which tells you: we are superior, you are inferior; this is my religion, that is your religion. And if you don't follow my religion, you will go to hell. These negative thoughts do not find any room in the Jain teachings. Jain teaching is just a guidance in life; it's a nourishment-it sustains you. Because the journey is very tough, it is an uphill movement. So in that journey, we need something that sustains. Jain teaching is that sustenance, that substance, that energy; and that light that guides you.
It starts with reverence. In meditation, you come closer to yourself; for the first time, you have reverence for yourself. Yes, I am here alive; you feel the joy of being alive. That is the greatest thing: I am alive. Now everything is working. If I am dead, nothing matters. It may be a house, a church, a temple, or a million dollars. What have they do with a dead person? Now you are alive. So in meditation, you feel your breathing, your prana. Who takes the breath? The energy which is alive, which inhales and exhales. It takes oxygen inside, and throws out carbon dioxide, outside
The oxygen is peace, love, positive thoughts—experiencing divinity within. Carbon dioxide is hate, jealousy, and greed. It is an ongoing process to make life alive; and to go on working every moment and every day. Because every moment, the vibrations from the world are coming at us. There are so many confused people, and they send their vibrations. We cannot escape from them. If we go on inhaling them, taking them in, we will feel confused. But through this purification process of inhalation and exhalation, we go on taking out carbon dixoide, those negative vibrations. We remain connected with the Jain teachings. And we take in those positive vibrations.
And for all of this, we need some model of behavior. Mahavira, the man, and Jain 'teacher for the present age-Mahavira is our model. He was born as a prince in the north of India some twenty-six hundred years ago, and he lived seventy-two years. Because of his previous lives, and all of his good merits at the time of his birth, he realized why I am here--the purpose of life. And he grew in this awareness. When the time came and his brother asked him to become the king, Mahavira replied: No, I am not here to rule over this people. I am going to fly, I am going to soar. I have not come to drag along on the earth and waste my years. I have to soar. He, Mahavira, was a human being. But slowly, slowly from the atma, he became
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