Acharya Tulsi
The echoes of the heart—warming slogans of progress sound very pleasant. But nothing is achieved by merely shouting slogans. What are required for achieving any goal, is objective thinking, planning and determination to carry on till the work is completed. Water is heated and when it reaches the boiling point at 100 C, it changes into steam. If the fire is extinguished before it reaches that point, water cannot change into steam. The man whose spirits flag before he has reached his target will never be successful. It is possible for every individual to hear the call of the goal, but if he ignores it even after hearing it, how will he ever reach it?
The factors involved in the pilgrimage of progress may be divided into various forms-the individual, the family, the society, the state, the country and the world. The development of the whole of the human race is a big idea; whereas the field of individual development is limited. The principles of Anuvrata and Preksha Dhyana. However, have the capacity to revitalize the individual as well as the whole of mankind. Although the objective before us is the rejuvenation of the human race, I would like to return to an earlier theme. While setting out on a new path, a man of strong will-power completely turns his back on the old; he starts on a new pilgrimage after bringing his boats. But in harking back to old theme, l has a certain aim in view.
The Terapanth Dharam Sangh is a systematically-run institution. For the past two centuries," has been regularly progressing even after entering the third century, the pace of its progress has not slackened. However, its activities stand modified by the circumstances of the age. This requires constant reappraisal without first knowing the ground of one's organisation, the talk of sowing new seeds can present certain difficulties. Without fully understanding the ethics and the specific circumstances of the religious organisation and the community which bases its life on that ethics, it is not possible to give it a new direction.
The Welfare Year offers an opportunity, or perhaps has been made into an opportunity, for the achievement of a single aim, which is to transform the pleasure-seeking mentality of society and its traditional inertia into a vital way of living. How are we going to develop such a different style of living’? We cannot accomplish this goal by merely listening to discourses. Proper training and practice—these are the two factors in the development of a dynamic way of everyday living. Let us create for ourselves a new firmament with our desires and ambitions, and let training and practice shine in that firmament like the sun and the moon; all darkness would then stand instantly dispelled.
A question may arise as to who will receive this training and on whom will experimentation be done.
Briefly, it is our far—flung religious organisation that is most worthy of it. In the Year of Welfare, I should particularly like our organisation to be the centre of various activities. Among the first to receive training, would be our monks and "nuns. Without the development of our monks and nuns, the development of the Terapanth community is bound to remain incomplete. Because it is our monks and nuns who will disseminate among the people from one generation to the other, the spiritual, moral and cultural values by embedding these in the talks they deliver, the songs they sing and the tales they tell, thus keeping alive the ancient tradition. lf they themselves are not adequately trained, what will they give to the community?
In the second tie of trains will stand the educated young men and women who still consider themselves as students; who, having obtained academic degrees, have not yet had the. Opportunity of receiving training in the art of living, of understanding religion and philosophy and of coordinating science with spirituality. For all those who are inquisitive and receptive, the Welfare Year offers a golden opportunity. For full one year,they will receive instruction from learned monks and nuns and other scholars, according to a prescribed curriculum.
The third tier of trains will consist of lay members of the community who are interested in metaphysical knowledge, in the realization of the Supreme Truth. Besides this, arrangement would also be made to offer training to the participants of weekly, fortnightly and monthly programmes of worship.
Still another tier would consist of those individuals, who could participate in two fortnightly programmes of training during one year. Under these programmes, special training will be imparted to the workers of various organisations, school teachers and Preksha Dhayan instructors, etc.
The Welfare Year should be treated as the year of total community development. In order to avoid any disruption of work, it has been decided to stay at one place for almost the whole of the year. Various courses of teaching have been prepared for that year. We specially earmarked two months of our stay at the Jain Vishva Bharati, for deciding the prescribed courses, the selection of instructors, and the layout of the teaching- schedule.
The subjects of the early morning discourses to be given during the period of one year have also been determined. There is every possibility of inaugurating the welfare year by the end of the third week of February, 1989. Hardly six months to go from now. During this interval, the entire background of the Welfare Year should be duly failed in. Artists spent six months preparing the wall, in smoothening and levelling it, and second a victory even before he had lifted his brush. That is what l wants. Before the Welfare Year starts, the ground of the community should be made so fertile that we are assumed of a flouncing crop in time. In this connection, I should like to emphasize two points:
- Nowhere in the community and the family, should there be any malice or ill-will.
- A human method is adopted in the democratic election processes of various religious institutions of the community.
A difference of opinion is symbolic of independent thinking.But malice creates deep cleavages in mutual relationship. Where malice exists between two individuals, among the family, or in society, it only encourages negative thinking which leads to disintegration. It is, therefore, necessary to end malice and create an atmosphere of goodwill.
In politics, who is not aware of the high-handedness prevalent during elections? Senior political leaders are themselves on the look-out for an acceptable alternative. Politics has also intruded in religious organisations. In these circumstances, it is difficult to say what turn the electioneering tournament might take at any given time. The intelligence that forestalls danger is praiseworthy.
Keeping in view the dignity of religious organisations, it has been decided that elections to the Terapanthi Sabha, the Terapanthi Youth Association, The Terapanthi Women's Forum, and other organisations should be unanimous-that is the humane way. Thus the dignity of the institutions will remain unimpaired, there would be better coordination among the workers, and time, energy and money will not be misused.
The above decision marks a perceptible change in the community environment. A beginning has been made in the direction of ending mutual rancour. We have since received the news of unanimous elections from many regions. I hope that the remaining regions will give due attention to the two points emphasized earlier. These are the points l specially wish to bring home to the entire community.
