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Living Jain on Progress
By Suraj Dinesh Shah and the Living Jain team.
"Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies in developing what is
traits we would be moving in the right direction. To gain great results though, we would have to also work on utilising, improving and maximising our positive attributes.
Sonal is an actuary in her mid-20s working in London. She is an active member of Young Jains UK, interested in the philosophical and mystical facets of Jainism.
good."
- Calvin Coolidge
iving Jain Several hundred people have signed up at
www.livingjain.com to receive a free daily inspirational quote by email every morning to inspire them as they gently tread along the Jain path to freedom.
Binit Tejani This quote is quite fascinating in that the first sentence states a problem and the second offers a solution! Each sentence carries a key word - "repress' and developing' both lying at opposite ends of the progress spectrum. Repression is a process by which something (in this case, evil) is limited/suppressed with the aim of denying or making it inaccessible to memory. Evil in its many forms begins in the human mind and is a thought-virus, which may affect the mind if not held in check.
The quotes are from a variety of sources, such as novels, scriptures, film, cartoons and speeches, and this article was specially written for the Young Jains 2008 Souvenir Edition to explore a quote on the topic of 'progress' from several different perspectives. Here's what one subscriber has to say...
"The daily quotes have really kept me going at these hard times we are facing in our beautiful country Kenya. Thank you so much Sol." - Rasila Shah, Kisumu, Kenya
Of Living Jain's expanding team of writers, four specific individuals, all YJ members, have contributed to this article.
My interpretation of the quote is limited to oneself, i.e. evil symbolises kashaaya like anger, pride, deception, greed. As human beings, we have been gifted with a beautiful mind; we can consciously choose our actions. But this can only happen when our internal development of our good points is strong, i.e. choosing to live humbly, freeing the mind of desires, of greed, jealousy and violence, being considerate of others. Hey, thinking about it, development of such positive points resonates with the Jain doctrines of Aparigraha (limiting possessions) and Anekantvaad (multiple viewpoints)!
Sonal Shah This is a quote of substance, perhaps a little simplistic
substance. perhaps a little simplistic as it implies it's much better to develop the good than suppress the bad. Whilst in many situations this could be true, a more pragmatic way to look at these two actions could be by viewing them as complementary. After all, there are interdependencies between various courses of action.
At the end of the day, we are the ultimate bearers of responsibility of our actions - no excuses. To cultivate our positive points and keep working at eliminating our negative points is very possible once we seek to be constantly aware of our actions.
Take a gardener, for instance: when he gets rid of weeds in his garden he is giving his plants a better chance of growing; however, that alone does not suffice and he would have to provide the right nutrients and conditions for his plants to grow. So, it is the combined effect of these actions that will allow his plants to flourish.
Binit is a 28 year old living in London. He works for Paper Cellar in business development and marketing, and is studying a part-time MBA at Brunel University. He is really proud to be a Jain and wants to help to spread awareness of the religion.
We all strive to become better at specific aspects of our lives: careers, relationships, health, spirituality, etc. By acknowledging and containing our limiting negative
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