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22
MIRA AND MAHAVIR
This is a further character of God: He exists in the world and acts and creates in accordance with a
universal Law, and is supremely happy. MAHAVIR-I cannot deny this if you put it tliat way,
You are cleverer than I had thought, but you cannot beat me yct. Do you really think you have proved anything? Is not your God the same as Nature, which, I say, acts in accordance with its own laws.; and whatever happens to its creatures, is indifferent itself, or if you pleasc, happy? You seem to forget that the change which leaves me unaffected relates to action which is almost unconscious. But my actions are only partly unconscious. Most of them are conscious and deliberate,--the result of my own free will. I want to be happy wliile I act consciously, deliberately, and with a will; and the Being who can act in this way and still be happy is my Ideal, my
God, if there be one. KRISHNA-Very good, very good. Now suppose you
have undertaken an action consciously, deliberately, and with a will: your motive, personally, so far as it concerns you, is undoubtedly good, and you succeed
in your aim. Do you feel satisfied or happy ? MAHAVIR-Of course. How can you ask that ? KRISHNA-And if you fail or only partially succeed ? MAHAVIR-It is natural to feel disappointment - in
proportion to the measure of failure. If I am personally interested, if I have put forth my best, can you wonder if I feel sorry when I fail ?
