Page 130 - Ecstasy and Agony in the Journey to Infinity

yajnopavita is there, otherwise they are denied. That is the arhata, that is the basic.
That is not our concept, our concept is, every person is entitled to have this knowledge. Arhata is not based on birth, the caste or certain rituals. It is only the aspiration. If you got the aspiration, you have got the right. Arhata is the question of deservancy or eligibility. The concept of arhata is there in buddhism also. A person does not become eligible unless he follows certain rules. Arhat is the first stage of spiritual development. Here in our system, we don’t insist on that arhata. Any person who is willing to learn, we are prepared. All that we are saying is you have the confidence, do not think somebody else knows, you don’t know, you cannot know, you are not entitled to know. This type of notions, we need not have. Second is the means, upaya is the method and upeya is the Goal, the Master. In shraddha we stress on upaaya nirnayam. In our concept of shraddha, all three have to be there. In all three of these, we get confidence. Now that you have covered already some distance, you definitely know you are very competent. Although in initial stages, we may not have had the confidence when
we started the journey as a serpent, but as we come to
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