Ten Days Journey Into The Self

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre

Page 37

Mahavir Jayanti
This talk was given on April 15, 1973 at the Chapel of the United Nations
We are celebrating Mahavir Jayanti, Mahavir's birthday, and it rejoices my heart that this celebration is being held at the United Nations Chapel and is open for people of all nations and all religions. I have long felt that just as light and air and water are indispensable to each human being, even so the principles of the great religions are meant for mankind. Certainly the Jain principles of Ahimsa, which is non-violence; of Aparigraha, meaning nonacquisition and limited consumption, and the theory of relativity, and the law of Karma--are all indispensable to mankind, in fact to all living beings, if we are to survive.
I would earnestly wish that not only Mahavir Jayanti, but the birth anniversaries of all the prophets and great men who have given the world the message of non-violence and non-acquisition, who have carried on deep research in the essence of godliness, be celebrated by all communities. By enclosing the Divine Light within the narrow confines of any one denomination, we warp our own personality by being closed-minded, and also deprive humanity of the boon of wisdom of many seers.
Vinoba Bhave, once shocked a crowd he was addressing when he said, "I am more elevated than all the prophets." Then he explained, "We have had the words of Buddha, Mahavir and Christ, the words of all the great teachers, and now, as a child who climbs on his father's shoulders can see further than his father, so we can use the wisdom of the prophets to climb even higher than they did." Truly, we are lucky people that we can do this. Contemplation on the great wisdom of the teachings and on our own lives held up to their light will both open the door to the inner Self, and give us the vision of the outer world we need in these portentous times.
It is because Bhagvan Mahavir was an embodiment of truth and wisdom that he abides even after twenty-five hundred years. If we shut our eyes, we can experience him as if he had just been among us. Why does he seem so near to us, so fresh, so permanent? Because truth is timeless. While earthly objects, large or small, important or unimportant, constantly undergo change and die, truth does not. Of course we can realize new aspects of truth, as relativity implies. And we can remove the historical distortions from truth, that some followers of the sages seem to prefer to their essential teachings. I would like to relate to you the anecdote that first drew me to Mahavir. The language of the state in which I grew up was kannada, and thirty-two years ago I knew nothing of Jainism. One day I came across a saying of Mahavir rendered in Kannada: "Just as a mighty mango tree is hidden within the stone of the mango, even so, oh man, God ,almighty is hidden within you. Rest not until you find him."
This beautiful thought convinced me that like the stone in the mango, the fire in the flint, God is inherent in each of us. This is what Mahavir illustrated by his life.