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Tulsa Jain Sangh Pratishtha Mahotsav 2004
particular viewpoint alone. Absolutism for him was an act of mental violence. Relativize the absolute, he pleaded. He wanted respect for different belief systems. Anekantvada is a vision within which the paradox of all opposites are integrated. If we look at things with balance, we will know that opposites are complementary to each other. Without opposites there is no growth and awareness. When we are aware of the cycle of opposites, we don't see them as opposites. We see them as compatible for growth, allowing us to approach the world openly.
Mahavira spoke against the mindless acquisitive impulse, remarking how this sets up the system of violence within our lives. He was not impractical or unrealistic. He wanted us to grow beyond the selflimiting principle of greed and help us transcend our linearization. It is only the transcendence of the ego that makes for a larger sympathy, an identification with a larger principle. Mahavir's compassion extended beyond humanity, to all forms of life. His standpoint makes him a kindred spirit to contemporary environmentalists and animal conservationists. Mahavira speaks to us in the present. It is not by balance of terror or air-dropped bombs that we can make the world a safer place. We can make it a safer place with a transformed consciousness. For that transformation we need to heed the gentle and healing message of Mahavir.
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