Page 75 - Courage Redifined

I am really a coward and undetermined to stay back in
this trouble some world which leads to this miserable
state today. Inspite of bearing sorrows and troubles
here, I cannot free myself from the clutches of Karmas
as I am facing these sorrows due to dependency and
compulsion. If I would have tolerated pains and sorrows
out of choice by accepting Lord Mahavira’s ascetic life,
I would have done abundant Karma Nirjara. But I am
not that fortunate. How can an undetermined person like
me worship on the holy Giriraj ? Why is our state like
this ? Because our mind had not become steady enough
in Lord Adinath to enable us to consider the outer world
and objects as futile.

Imagine a person who has a beautiful wife of his choice or
an agent who got many business deals or a huge promotion
in his job which resulted in a considerable increment in his
salary – won’t his mind become steady in all these outer
benefits ? Won’t he keep on remembering his fortune now and
then ? Then why doesn’t our mind remain steady like this in
worshipping Lord ? Because unnecessary thoughts do not let
it remain stable. An idle mind does nothing but gets dragged
away in wild, unwanted thoughts. This bad habit does not let
one concentrate in the great ritual of worshipping Lord.

Hence it is essential to keep the mind from getting idle. To
ensure this, the mind should be kept occupied in the study of
Scriptures. We spoke about one disadvantage of entertaining
unwanted thoughts. Now let us look upon the second loss.

(2) The mind loses courage and becomes undetermined :

When does a man commit sins and mistakes ? Only when
he does not have the courage to remain unmoved against the
chance to commit sins. When he loses his determination, only
Keep the Mind Undisturbed... 65