Birth does not lead to greatness; but cultivation of numerous virtues by a man leads him to greatness.
You have crossed the great ocean; why do you halt so near the shore? Make haste to get on the other side, Gautama; be careful all the while!
This is peace, this is excellent, namely the calm of all impulses, the casting out of all “basis”, the extinction of craving, dispassion, stopping-nirvana.
Not knowing the consequence of good and evil karmas, he is afflicted and hurt. Nevertheless, he, due to his egotism, piles up more karmas and undergoes births and deaths again and again.
Anyone that is fallen into the grip of lust, wrath, or attachment…by contemplation of the Supreme Being, with a moment’s remembrance of God shall he be saved.
Behold the man who shields his family from all suffering. Has not his body become a willing vessel for affliction? Without good men to hold it up, the family house will fall when misfortune descends.
