________________
of everyday use in the conduct of individual and collective life.
Mahavira said, “He who knows the self to be wholly different from the impure body and comprehends it to be the knower of all substances, is said to be master of all scriptures."
The root centre of right knowledge is the knowledge of self, to know the Self. To know oneself as one is, is most essential. Consulting one's own mental state, including one's beliefs, desires, thoughts, feelings and sensations, can result in meaningful selfknowledge. Self-knowledge guide the development of self-concept and inform of mental attributes and whether these attributes are stable or dynamic. This involves looking inward or introspection. Only selfknowledge can make one master of one's inner powers and fills the life with light, knowledge and splendour. Fearlessness of mind is gained only by laying bare the truth about oneself. Knowledge is not information, it is transformation. Knowing about is cheap because it is only information, it is not transformation. But knowing oneself is transformation. The one who knows oneself can know others realistically. The practice of self-knowledge makes us less deluded less weak and less imperfect. The conquest of self-delusion is absolutely essential to religious progress.
Knowledge of the Self does not dawn on a mind which is not purified by non-attachment and renunciation. The latter are the necessary means for attaining the end of the knowledge of the Self. If a man gets attached to renunciation and non-attachment without recognising them as means to the final end, he loses the sight of the end and loses the game.
180
