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MITRA AND MAHAVIR
17
MAHAVIR--Didn't you say the forces of Nature, which
are subject to the law of Change ? KRISHNA- Exactly. Nature and all that is in it, includ
ing Man, is subject to this law of Cliange. If there were no change, his first action, moved by sonething good, would be his last, and he would be happy. But all things change. Now you believe that it is Nature that creates all forms of life; but, as it changes from moment to moment, nothing that is in it can be permanently happy. But inan wants to be permanently happy, for each action of his is intended to secure something good. If Nature is the beginning and end of everything, this happiness can never belong to man. But, so far as pleasure or pain refer to his state of life and consciousness, he can put an end to pain by death or by putting an end to his life. Therefore the only logical thing a real atheist can do is to
commit suicide, and the sooner the better. MAHAVIR—Wait a bit. I don't think I should like to do
so. I wish to live and do something in the world. KRISHNA-I have no doubt, Nature can give you many
things-strength, beauty, knowledge, even life, if you please. But one thing it cannot give-and that is permanent Happiness. And yet it is this that man strives to attain through all his actions. If Nature, blind and purposeless, is the sole creator of the universe, Man can get this happiness only beyond the realms of Nature, -that is, through death. Then
