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A MIND EMANCIPATED
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Truth is one There is no separate truth for shramanas and for Vedic saints Vedic religion, Shramana religion, Jainism and Buddhism are institutions and the means is not spiritualism itself Since these are not dharma there can be many and sometimes contradictory systems These systems seek to catch truth by its letter as a child attempts to catch the sun by its reflection in the pond
A man sits inside a room The room is closed There is an open small window covered with wire-mesh He can watch the sky through this window Of course, he cannot see the entire sky through it The sky is not as much limited as he can thus see The sky thus observed is also not observed unobstructed
Once Lord Mahavira said to Gautam, 'When dharma is not seen by the seer directly it is seen through the wire-mesh of words Conjecture is the wire-mesh that covers the window Multiple sects and systems result from such an indirect observation The path suggested to you Gautam is the direct path of the seer Be vigilant and be a seer of dharma '1
Lord Mahavira was the seer of dharma, He had observed the attribute relevant to the unconscious part of the universe and the attribute relevant to the conscious part He was a realist He propounded nothing prompted by fear, greed or exaggeration
Acharya Hemchandra writes, 'Lord! You enunciated truth as a realist Hence you never revealed angularities that the neo-scholars that invent fantastic systems do'
Relativism and realism go hand in hand One cannot be a - realist in the absence of a relativistic approach The converse is also true Lord Mahavira had a masterly grip over relativism and realism that enabled him to grasp the truth that transcends systems and orders
1 The Lord arrived at Rajgriha from Kaushambi and stayed at Gunashilaka chaitya Gautam visited the streets of the town
1 'Uttarajjhayanı', 10/31.
