The Great Secret

The following essay was published in December, 1948 in The Jaina Gazette, Vol. XLV (No. 12), p. 133-140.

The Great Secret

[The essay is written from the devotional standpoint. From the spiritual point of view, a Jina is above all feeling, all desire, all likes, all dislikes, all-centered in Himself, Self-absorbed, and Self-circumferenced. - Editor of The Jaina Gazette]

Why is the world in such dire distress? It is because mankind has succumbed to the unchangeable forces of nature. Thus men and nations die. The secret of life lies in the direction of these forces. Man must not allow himself to be enslaved by these in any way, but must make the greatest use of them, by living and moving within these laws, thereby achieving, immortal liberty. This is the Great Secret of Life.

Desire, which can only end in misery, is the scourge of humanity. Jaina sages, who are termed the knowers, go so far as to state that all the torments of the human Soul have their origin in desire, or fear. To will without fear and without desire is the secret of the knower. The Jina fears nothing; he knows that evil can never triumph, and that the good will ever accomplish itself, but he wills, for humanity's sake that truth shall be, because it is true, and that justice shall be done because it is just.

The Jina loves that men mutually assist each other, and that the young will help the aged. He knows that the eternal good will triumph over the transitory evil, and he takes part patiently and peaceably in the work of mankind and nature.

The conqueror loves order. He loves and works according to reason. Goodness he loves, and his offering to mankind is love. In his efforts to free mankind from the claims of fear and desire, the Jina works with all his strength, and by so doing wins for himself and others the joys of Immortality and Bliss.

Desiring nothing, he is rich. Fearing nothing he is free. Wanting only what he ought to want, he is joyous. For the knower, to will is to create. To exist is to produce. It may be truly said of him "Wishing for the good is to do good, and for him existence is always fruitful." Did Job, stretched upon his dung hill achieve nothing? By no means. He accomplished a sublime work. He gave Patience to the world. All suffering is the producer of birth.

Poverty bringeth riches, sickness health, captivity deliverance, punishment expiation and pardon. Tears are the seed of joy. Death nourisheth life. For the knower and the Lover, all is hope and happiness. What does the non-knower crave? Usually fortune, honour and pleasure. To the unenlightened these things attract like a magnet.

The non-knowers are totally unaware that pleasures are the ruin alike of fortune and honour, and that the worldly honours are too often purchased by in-human baseness. The miser excitedly treasures up his gleaming treasures of misery, the voluptuary in the depravement of his senses, killeth the heart, and the ambitious seeking for a shining city find a slough of despond. Verily their lives are in Hell, and their end Heth in despair.

The knower is never the slave of any of these. He knows how to be poor, to deprive himself and to suffer. He endures willingly for his happiness which is his own (and arises from the depths of his soul) expects nothing and dreads nothing from the caprices of fortune. The Jina can love without being loved. He creates imperishable treasures and transcends the levels of honour, and any gift of fortune. His treasure, Profound Peace, is ever in his possession. He places no thought in that which must come to an end, but remembereth all that goodness and light which the Tirthankaras have bestowed for his benefit. His former hope hath become a certainty.

He knows that good is eternal, and that evil is transitory. He enjoys solitude but does not fear the society of his fellows. A child he is with all children, joyous with the young, staid with the old, patient with fools, and happy with those who  have attained wisdom.