Blessed Is The Person Who Has Shuddhi, Shanti, And Perseverance

28 March 1991, Mahavira Jayanti

Published English.

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You may master the Vedas and , you may be an expert composer of beautiful poems and prose, but if you lack purity of heart, you will ruin yourself. The word of Sai is verily the Truth.

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There are two kinds of cleanliness – external cleanliness and internal cleanliness. We are maintaining external cleanliness, to some extent, like wearing washed clothes and keeping our bodies clean. This is not sufficient. "" (Narayana resides in the body which is clean internally and externally). We must keep our body, both internally and externally, clean, by having sacred thoughts. In order to keep our mind unsullied, we must not be unjust, unlawful, wicked, corrupt, and untruthful. We should stay away from teasing, finding faults, criticizing, and slandering others. We are polluting our minds with such type of words and deeds which may not show immediate effects, but one will have to experience dire consequences in the long run. Some day or the other, all our feelings will turn into seeds, sprout, grow into thorny plants, and might cause harm to us. Therefore, purity is both physical cleanliness and mental cleanliness and the best way to achieve this is having Divine thoughts, religious contemplation, and truthful conduct.

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How To Remain Peaceful Second is – Patience. What are peace (), endurance, and patience? These cannot be obtained from books and listening to sermons. '' can be acquired only by following the path of truth in our daily life. We must keep our mind stable during difficulties, sufferings, and losses. We must achieve success in sustaining steadiness when we are depressed or elated. This is the time when we can develop our patience. During these times, we must think that these tests are to test our patience. We should see that our mind is unruffled under all circumstances.

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Peace Is Due To Divine Grace There is no peace in this external world but only pieces. Peace is in our heart and is a gift from God and hence, we should not waste it. “You are the embodiment of (peace), hence is your form and if you lose , it is equal to losing your form. When there is no peace in our heart, our living is equal to living death. gives us happiness. 'Shantamu lekapote saukhyamu ledu' (If there is no , there is no happiness) sang Saint . So, there is no happiness even for a person of forbearance or a Vedantist, if he has no . Whether a person has control over his senses or lost control over his senses, if he has no , he can have no happiness. Therefore, is the royal path to reach the Divine presence.

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Man must persevere every second to achieve . Perseverance is a quality that must be used in the right path; one should not persevere in scolding others or doing anything wrong.

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Adikavi was previously known as Ratnakar and he took care of his family by robbing travelers. He was bent upon torturing living beings without any mercy. There was no change in his determination. When time, destiny, cause, and responsibilities come together, good times also favor us. One day, when were passing by, Ratnakar went to rob them. They told him, “We are hermits and recluses. We do not have anything with us except saffron clothes, but we are having an invaluable diamond called Divine thoughts (of Rama)." Saint also sang, "Oh Mother! I have bargained and bought Govind (who is an invaluable diamond). Let some say he is in the house, let others say he is in the woods…."

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This is a diamond called Rama and it was graced by our Guru. We have to preserve this diamond. We have the name of God, which is (most precious) like a diamond. We will give you this diamond whose value is indescribable by anyone. Ratnakar immediately said, “Kindly give me that diamond. If I have that diamond, I will remain happy throughout my life.” Everyone blessed Ratnakar and taught him " Harernamaiva kevalam, kalau nastiyeva nastiyeva nastiyeva gatiranyatha." They said that this is and asked him to chant this name with the same perseverance he showed in worldly matters. Ratnakar changed his mind after the , , and (sight, touch, and conversation) of these Rishis, and started performing good deeds.

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Mahavira’s Life And Jainism Today is ; this religion came into this world before Buddha was born. It originated in the seventh and eighth centuries. His father’s name was Siddharth and mother was Trishali. He was born in the kingdom of Vaisali at Kundali village. At the time of Mahavira’s birth, his father noticed many auspicious signs and felt that his son would become the savior of the world. He also had a firm faith that his son had the qualities that would not only liberate their clan but also the country. Therefore, he brought up his son very lovingly and in the righteous path.

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The Main Principles Of Jainism What are the main rules of this religion? Mahavira had no faith in and yogas but he believed in the principle that freedom from the cycle of births and deaths is Moksha. He felt that liberation from the cycle of death and birth is the ultimate aim of a living being and therefore, he determined to do all sacred activities with this body to avoid life after death. For life Muktayame is (freedom from the cycle of birth and death).

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When is birth possible? It is only when seeds exist, plants will sprout. Similarly, as long as man has seeds called desires, he cannot escape the cycle of birth and death. So, man has to be desireless. Thus, destruction of desires is liberation (). (destruction of desires) can be achieved by turning all our worldly desires towards God, and also by turning our love for our parents, children, wife relations, as well as love for material things towards God. All the base desires should be turned into love for God. Getting rid of the cycles of births and deaths is important for .

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Importance Of Control Of Senses Mahavira had one dominant quality and that is control over his senses and hence the name ‘Veeratvam’. Likewise, if we have control over our senses, or if we surrender our senses to God, God will manifest in us. The essence of Bhagavad-gita is also ", Tvameva bandhushcha sakha tvameva, Tvameva vidya dravinam tvameva, Tvameva Sarvam mama Deva Deva." (You are the mother, You are the father, You are the relative, You are the friend, You are education, You are wealth, and You are everything for me, O Lord, O Lord.)

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Therefore, one must have firm faith, with which we can behold a form in a stone. If we do not have faith, even a true form will look like a hard stone. So, primarily, man must have faith, and this should progress every day. It should not falter as wavering is not our true nature. There are leaves on a tree and these leaves ruffle only when there is a breeze, not otherwise. Similar is our senses. The real nature of our senses is to remain steady but we have trained them to waver. When we use a fan, our hair is ruffled. Similarly, we have allowed worldly matters to distract our senses. It is just like; ", dhyanat-karma-phala-tyagas-tyagach-@shantir-anantaram." (Better than mechanical practice is knowledge; better than knowledge is meditation. Better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of actions, for peace immediately follows such renunciation.) Controlling our senses is more important than allowing it to run after worldly attractions.

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Develop Good Habits And Good Thoughts Through Good Practice We acquire everything through practice. Even walking, talking, reading, and eating are acquired through practice. Most of them become part of our lives, even without our knowledge, just by practice. A small example for this. Some old people keep rotating their for years together. This habit has become so mechanical that they do it even while speaking to others. The root cause of habits is practice. "Sreyohi jnanam abhyasat….." Therefore, we have to practice good habits. Just as bad habits do their work even unconsciously, good habits also do their work, thus making us think positive.

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What is knowledge? This is a mike, this is a chair, this is a cloth, all this is also knowledge but it is just general knowledge. We have to see Divinity in everything and learn to accept the truth and reality. Only then we will understand that “." (Lord Vishnu pervades the whole Universe), "." (Everything in the Universe is enveloped by God), "" (All of this is ), where refers to the Ultimate reality. Divine consciousness permeates in every particle. This type of feeling should be developed in oneself, resulting in strong faith: “Come what may; my God will protect me". When we achieve such strong faith, we will be experiencing the true nature of the Almighty. (Truth) Though ant hills grew on Ratnakara’s body and snakes crawled on him, he did not forgo his perseverance. This is the sign of staunch devotion.

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Even animals have the ability of coming towards us when they sense something good in us and running away from us when they see something bad. When green grass is shown to animals, they come to us but when we have a stick in our hand, they run away from us. Is this the quality that one should possess? We must not possess animal qualities but possess the quality of ‘’ (Controller of animal qualities). It can also be said that this is due to innocence. Mother wanted to catch Lord Krishna. If she has in her hand only a stick, Krishna cannot be caught. So, she took butter in one hand, which he loved dearly, and a stick in the other hand. Hiding the stick, she enticed him with butter. As soon as Krishna saw the butter, he came running to her, and thus she caught Him. Likewise, if we want to catch hold of God, we must attract God with what He likes the most. We must show Selfless, pure, genuine, flawless, undifferentiated, boundless, nectar-like, and immortal love to catch hold of Him.

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What is the use of doing innumerable activities which Bhagawan does not like? is the first flower. What type of flowers are we offering to God today? We are offering flowers that have dried, withered, or decayed. This is not what God wants. We have to offer Him flowers which cannot be found in any garden and they are flowers that have blossomed in this plant called the body. Therefore, we have to offer to God the root called Faith and fruit called character. It is only when we have these two can we offer our life to God.

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The Five Principles Of Mahavira The one who has fostered faith is a valiant hero. Mahavira was called so because he gathered all his senses and surrendered them to God. His former name was not ‘Mahavira’. He achieved victory over his senses valorously, nourished his greatness, and attained Divinity. Hence, he is called ‘Mahavira’. He was named ‘’. He combined both the names and so Mahavira. He is named so because he achieved control over his senses with his willpower and with the power of Divine grace. He had no faith in the world, akin to Shankaracharya, who stated, “” (Brahma is the real reality, world is deceptive). But if the deceptive world is not there, how will we comprehend the truth about Divinity? It is only from this that we have to eliminate the untruth and arrive at the truth.

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That is why it is said, “” (out of all the truths, the Lord is the original truth). If this truth is considered as false by us, then we can never achieve the real truth. Having the ultimate truth as the basis, whatever has happened should be taken as false and the original truth has to be achieved. Mahavira gave people five principles.

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(liberation from the cycle of birth and death) is the first goal of every human being.

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The Main Principle Of Jainism Is It is said, “Tell me your company, I shall tell what you are.” With whichever group you join, you will become like that. This is coal and this is fire. If fire and coal stay aloof, the coal will not turn into fire. When you bring together coal and fire, fire will burn the coal. But if you fan it, the whole coal will turn into fire. When near and dear, both are there, "." (The knower of is itself). Both will turn into fire. When you are in good company, you will also become Brahma. There will be no use if coal and coal join together. There is a saying, “Two visually challenged men became friends and fell into a pit”. Therefore, a visually challenged must be accompanied by an able person.

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A man invited a visually challenged for lunch. He said to his wife, “I have invited a blind man for lunch today, lay a leaf and serve.” She said, “How many?” He said, “One person. “ When she laid a leaf, he asked her to lay two leaves. She said, “Only one person is going to eat, why should two leaves be served?” The husband said, “If the visually challenged person has to come, an able person must escort him, so serve for him also”. Therefore, only if an able person accompanies a visually challenged, will the visually challenged reach the house. When two visually challenged persons join, both will get ruined. Therefore, a bad person should not mingle with a bad person but if a bad person joins a good person, he might also change into a good person. If a good person joins with a bad person, there are chances of him turning into a bad person. That is why, ", Nissangatve Nirmohatvam." (Through the company of good there arises non-attachment, through non-attachment there arises freedom from delusion). Therefore, if you join good company, you can achieve anything. We have to get rid of hatred and jealousy from our hearts, and for this control of senses is necessary. The main principle preached by Mahavira was controlling the senses. He said that one must have firm love on God and this love will lead us to Moksha. He asked us to chant God’s name incessantly. How to do it? It is not just chanting God’s name with our lips but it should be chanted with love.

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