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LORD MAHAVIRA’S THEORY
OF SAMATVAYOGA : (A PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL APPROACH)
S. M. Jain
Our age is the age of tremendous growth of knowledge and scientifie discoveries. Yet, paradoxically, at the same time we can call it also the age of Anxiety and Mental Tension. Our traditional values and beliefs have been thrown away by this growth of scientific knowledge. We know much about the atom but not about the values needed for a meaningful and peaceful life. We are living in a state of chaos. Our life is full of excitements, emotional disorders and value-conflicts. In this age of anxiety alone, American peoples
spending more than 10 billion dollars a year on liquors and tranquilizing drugs. Today, what is needed for a man is mental peace and capability of complete integration with his own personality and with his social environment. This can only be achieved through the practice of Samatva i.e. Mental equilibrium or balanced state of mind. The theory of Samatva Yoga has been preached in India more than two thousand years ago by Jainism, Buddhism and the Gitā.
Concept of Samatva in General :
Concept of Samatva is a key concept of Jainism. It is a pivot around which the ethics of Jainism moves. In English, we can translate it as equality, equilibrium, harmony, integration and rightness. But none of these terms can convey the complete meaning of the word Samatva in which it is used in Indian philosophy. And
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