YJA Convention 1994 07 Chicago IL First

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

Page 65

Bevond the Endless Dusts
to do so with our parents, friends and siblings. It is healthy to challenge, argue and discuss ideas with others, that is what the learning process is all about.
(Dedicated to Sri Harkhchand Bothra)
If you take nothing else from this essay, please take the following.
Caravans of the living And their goods in due season Pass into the endless dusts.
Thereof speak Jain teachers: "Living and non- living are alike, Neither are created nor destroyed, Only their substances modify, Pot to shards, dust and again clay, Person to birth, death and rebirth -Cycle without beginning, And for the non-living without end, For therein is no eternal entity.
The uncertainty in the end product of all your hard work and sacrifice is the beauty and joy in discovering that I am not like you. I am of your flesh and blood, but not of your mind and opinions. I am me, and not always the me that you would like to see. Ask yourself only one question, and please be honest with your self. Would you like me to be a carbon copy of you, or even to accept your ideas and principles without questioning them myself as if I had no mind of my own; or would you rather, I educate myself as much as possible through you and others, and then evaluate what I think is right and wrong? I realize that you will always be my parents and will therefore feel the need to protect and shelter me, and that you will always see me as your little girl. We can not choose our parents or our children, but we can choose our friends, therefore I want you to see me as a friend, to choose me as a friend, and to treat me as an equal in ability to think and make decisions. I will always need and value you, I hope that you will one day see me in the same way.
Whilst in all living beings are Souls, pure, individual and eternal, In plant, animal and human alike. Soul-bondage to the wailing body may End by non-attachment, For attachment is caused by rebirth, And rebirth is effect of attachment. Yet everyday view-point sees Living beings cleaving to body-life -Ultimate attachment in conflict With spiritual progress.
How many lifetimes of thorns Till the foot sets to the path Bequeathed by the Tirthankars? -Path with venerable guidepost ...Non-violence. Truth-seeker follows step-by-step In Jain restraint and penance Toward harmless thought, word and deed, Till the potential of purity Within the soul becomes actual. O joy! Body-bondage is cast off, And for holy perpetuity Soul rests in all-wise bliss."
Praise the teachers, that they speak To all living beings, that all behold The Jain path to peace for the soul, Beyond the pains of karma and rebirth, beyond the endless dusts.
By Leona Smith Kremser
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Jain Education Intemational