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SHREE CHITRABHANU
L.M.: Such as selfishness.
S.C.: And then, the sin ahimsa is service. You have to do something for others. You are taking so much service from the world. If you take something, you have to give something back. The main sutra of Mahavira says: “Parasparo pagraho jivanam”- parasparo is mutual; pagraho is help, and jivanam means life, or soul, or living being. It means that we are supported by each other. You have been supported, so you have also to support others. That is the s for service in ahimsa. And then, every day you advance somewhere, or make progress. The final a in ahimsa is for advance. So there are six steps in ahimsa.
L.M.: Sometimes though, you may not be aware of it, of your advancing, or making progress in a given day?
S.C.: But you are living a good life. For example, you are sitting on a train. You are not aware that it is moving; but you have taken the right direction, right train, and you are moving.
L.M.: It is just like meditation.
S.C.: Because the spring comes and the flower blossoms. They blossom by themselves. You have not to ask the flower to bloom. It is the presence of the spring, that is all.
L.M.: Historically, the Jain religion seems to have been concentrated primarily in India and Asia.
S.C.: Yes.
L.M.: But today, and especially over the last twenty-five years, Jainism has been having a lasting impact on America and the West. You are definitely playing a big part in all of this. How do we understand this important development and growth of Jainism in America and the West?
S.C.: What happened was, before that time no Jain monk had come to teach here. And so, among scholars who were talking and writing about
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