31.08.2016 ►JAINA ►Special Newsletter - Paryushan Day 2

All human beings are miserable due to their own faults, and they themselves can be happy by correcting these faults.

- Bhagwan Mahavir

From years and years, this festival of Paryushan comes and goes, people become highly religious to some extent during this period of year. We listen to various discourses of different Sadhus, Sadhvijis and Scholars during these 8 days, but the biggest question lies in the fact that “How much do we follow and practice in our actual life?” The answer is simple and lies within ourselves, each one of us knows it very well that how much we do follow. We know that our youth has lot of curiosity about our religion. With all this curiosity once a young boy asked a Sadhu that if so many people flock to listen to discourses, than everyone will be so religious? The Sadhu answered this question by telling him a short story.

Once upon a time a famous sculptor visits the court of a famous King with 3 similar kinds of statues and each priced differently. The King gets angry on the sculptor that since these 3 statues are similar, why have you priced them differently. The sculptor is asked to justify the prices or else he would be punished. The sculptor displays something very interesting to the emperor, he takes a wire and starts inserting it in the ears of the first statue which is priced lowest. The wire does not enter the ear completely as there is no hole in the ear. The sculptor does same with second statue and shows how the wire enters from one ear and comes out of another ear. In the third statue which is the expensive of all, the wire enters from one ear and keeps on going in but does not come out. This shows that we have three types of listeners to various discourses, one who just listens but does not practice anything, second one listens but hardly remembers anything and third one is the true follower who not only listens but keeps within and follows the same. We all should try to be like third statue that we also practice what we listen in the discourses.

We should carefully think after we read scriptures and listen various discourses that way we can put into practice in our daily life. This is true essence of our festival and let us all pledge that we shall not celebrate this festival for eight days only but practice what we learn in these eight days for remaining 365 days. Let us all make Paryushan festival more grand by practicing what is preached to us by various Sadhus, Sadhvijis, or Jain scholars.