________________
character it requires rational faith and rational knowledge to be implemented into a perfect form.
Right faith: Mahavira said, “An individual must ultimately find the reality/truth himself.”
Mahavira attached supreme importance to the way of direct perception. Indian word of faith is called Darshan. Literally, Darshan means to see. One knows the reality by seeing, not by thinking. Basically, Darshan is a technical term. It is not merely sensibility of eyes but more commonly used to mean philosophy, principles, trust, doctrine, feelings, reliance, assumption, frame of reference, paradigm or faith. In the more general sense, it is the way we see the world - not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving, understanding and interpreting. And our attitudes and behaviours grow out of those assumptions. Each man creates the essence (meaning) of his life; life is not determined by a supernatural God or an earthly authority. Each one is free to act rightly or wrongly i.e. to work in harmony with Nature and Nature's laws, or go against them, depending on one's choice. The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act. So faith is how one sees oneself fitting into the world at large and guides the action. What we perceive is selected by our desires, coloured by our emotions and fragmented by our wandering attention. What we see outside us reflects what is inside us. We do not see ourselves or the world clearly or accurately. Fear, anger, hate and lust are emotional response related to one's perception, which can cause physical reactions and have many physical and mental consequences.
Jain scholars worked against blind faith and preached that we must know ourselves, try to
176
