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Like dirt mixed with gold particles, karmic bondage is attached to the living being from the time immemorial. It is the objective of human life to remove this bondage, achieve self-realisation and restore the soul to its natural state of eternal bliss and unending calm.
Jains argue that most individuals have not understood the true meaning of life. They are on the wrong quest, seeking the so-called ways to happiness through wealth, property, position, power and external objects. The pleasures brought by these material things are temporary, dependent on outside influences and substances that produce more and more desires, greed, pride, egoism, attachment and ultimately unhappiness. Ignorance, uncontrolled desires and activities of mind, body and speech are the causes of the bondage of the soul. The path towards self-conquest is gained if one controls the mind, develops detachment towards external objects, concern for the welfare of living beings, and contemplation on the soul. The happiness, which comes from within by selfconquest is not dependent on any external objects but is self-generated and permanent. To utilise the body for self-realisation and self-conquest is the true meaning of life.
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