Kamal used to visit the religious place where the monks were staying everyday. One day his father thought to himself, "My son makes three to four visits to the place of monks' everyday but I do not know if he goes there just to fulfill a ritual or he uses the opportunity to gain some insight into religion. I must put him to test."
Once, during the noon time both the father and the son were sitting together. Kamal tried to look at the watch hanging by the wall again and again. The father said, "Kamal! are you thinking of going somewhere?"
Kamal replied- "Yes father! It is time for me to go to the monks and learn something from them."
Father said- "Why do you go to them again and again?"
The son- "Father, do you not know the objective of my going there? is it hidden from you? Only those persons go there who have a desire to know something about the self and gain some spiritual insights. I think, the more I go there, the more it will be useful for me. The soul is such a profound reality as cannot be understood easily. In order to realize its true nature I may have to make many efforts."
Father- "When you arrive there, you might also be indulging in some useless talks."
Son- "No father, my friends and myself get busy trying to accomplish the goal for which we go there. We do not waste a single moment. We try to understand every aspect of the vows relating to ahimsa, truth, non- stealing, celibacy and nonpossession by examining them on the touchstone of reasoning. We question to the monks and try to understand and apply what they teach in our lives. That place is a house of curiosity for us all."
The moment we arrive there, the questions that appear in our minds are, "Who are we? where have we come from? Where will we go? What is that which is ours? In which direction are we moving? What should be our goal? Why do we not know ourselves? who is creating hurdles in our path to self-realization? Why is there so much diversity among living beings?"
To get answer to these questions we will have to spend all our life. Father! we do not idle away our time there. We try to unravel the knot of these abstract aspects of truth. We also try to follow in our life, both in letter and spirit, the message of Lord Mahavira contained in these words, "samayam goyam! ma pamayae"- Gautam! do not waste a single moment in spiritual lethargy."
The father was astonished to hear a profound statement by his son regarding the various aspects of truth. He was very happy and said, "My dear son! do visit the monks and nuns as many times as you wish and thus make your life successful by benefitting from their wisdom."
Questions:
- What is the objective of going to a place of worship?
- What are the questions that agitate our mind when we enter a religious place?
- What should we do at a religious place?
