Page 87 - Desire to Disaster

compassion and a bond of spiritual amity for her. As a
consequence, your soul remains free from passion and lust.
Instead, it feels a bond of amity and compassion. Hence,
instead of incurring sin, you have earned merits.
A Pure Mind Can Focus on Spiritual Upliftment

One with a pure mind can take away his focus from his body
and senses, and focus on spiritual well-being. A pure mind
takes you on the path of enlightenment and away from the
path of spiritual downfall.

Same activity, different results

Now, the elephant was looking at Sunanda, but not with
lust-filled eyes. He looked at her with humility, respect and
supplication. Although his act of looking at her was the same,
his intentions had changed. Hence, the karmic consequences
were completely different! Karmic consequences are directly
proportionate to the extent of sañvega {desire to free oneself
from worldly encumbrances} and vairāgya {detachment from
the world} that you feel.
People and the King were transfixed

All those spectators who had fearfully climbed up trees
watched in fascinated silence as the drama unfolded beneath
them. They had feared that the rogue elephant would trample
upon the Jain nun. But lo and behold! They saw Sunanda
standing calmly, conversing with the elephant. They saw that
she spoke to him at length, and from the elephant’s bowed
head and respectful demeanour it was evident that not only
could he understand each word, he was deeply moved and
was hanging on to each word Sunanda spoke. The spectators
realised that the elephant’s madness had passed. So they got
down from the trees, and congregated near the spot where
the elephant and Sunanda were conversing.

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