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TIRTHANKARA MAHAVIRA AND HIS SARVODAYA TIRTHA
Not their state, but their respective outcome is more important The question is not, which of the two is more powerful and which less; the question is about their nature.
timeless. The spiritual cu
The material current is full of worldly experiences -infinite and timeless. The spiritual current is all renunciation, renunciation of 'others' and exclusive cultivation of self. Thus the two are inverse.
no-senunciation
According to one, there should be no limit to joys and pleasures. If there is a limit, there is no satiation, and when there is no satiation, there is no pleasure. According to the other, what is the pleasure in worldly joys Real pleasure is a prerogative of the soul. So there is no place for worldly joys on the road to real pleasure.
In other words, the material, current does not tolerate even the slightest of resraint and the spiritual current does not tolerate the presence of even the slightest worldly joy. One stands for unqualified hedonism and the other has no place even for an iota of it. For the one, the master is the reckless pleasure seeker, for the other, a yogi with complete detachment.
The two currents have been compromised in the life of a Sravaka, who has not wholly renounced worldly pleasrues but gives them a due place. It is a passing compromise in which are sheltered, the five "lesser' vows and seven vows governing conduct.
The material current says, "To attain objects of pleasure, I may indulge in any amount of violence; it is immaterial.'
The spiritual current says, 'I do not want to have pleasures derived from violence, or when pleasure itself is violence, I need it not. I have joy within, I search it not outside.
Then starts a compromise. They say 'Really we do not need pleasures; but we need minimum subsistence for life, which is due to our present weakness.' Since non-ending desires can never be fulfilled, so it is not possible to allow a limitless indulgence in violence. But in the life of a householder certain forms of
