There's More to Life Than Striking Deals

Apr 26, 2004, 12.00am IST

If you really want the best deal in life, stop making deals. Yet, your very demeanour should be such that your client is simply bowled over. This is not a trick.

The deal will happen if it's necessary; it won't happen if it's not. It is for the well-being of both parties, so it must be needed by both of you. Once we're in this world, there are transactions, personal or otherwise.

Let's say you're in love. If you are not fully involved, you will try to strike a deal. Once a bachelor who had been wooing an attractive woman for long mustered the courage to propose to her.

"There are quite a lot of advantages to being a bachelor," he began, "but there comes a time when one longs for the companionship of another being. A being who will regard one as perfect, as an idol to be worshipped and treated as one's absolute own, who will be kind and faithful when times are tough and hard, who will share one's joys and sorrows."

To his delight he saw a sympathetic gleam in her eyes. She nodded in agreement and then said, "I think it's a great idea! Can I help you choose a pup?"

So to get mileage out of a deal, you have to first assess the level of intelligence of the other party. If you just give of yourself and see how both of you can be benefited from the deal, then whenever it is possible, it will happen.

Of course, deals are subject to many other conditions such as market situations, economic conditions or the world situation, but if you establish your inner way of being and are doing the best you can do, then what has to happen, according to your capability, will happen.

What you can't do won't happen anyway. Even if you break your head it won't happen, but that's okay.

However, if your whole life is about making deals, you will be miserable. The devil is always making a deal with somebody. God never made a deal with anybody.

Maybe you haven't attained to your full Divine nature, but at least in this case let us imitate God for a while. God doesn't make deals. Deals will be offered to you in so many ways. In a way, everybody is just a businessman.

Everybody is trying to pull off some deal: some in the market place, another maybe at home, in the temple, and others even with their spiritual process, but everybody is trying to pull off some kind of a deal.

When you get a good deal, you are civilised and nice but if a deal goes bad, you yell and scream.

You need not be a super human being capable of doing everything. If you don't do what you're capable of doing, that's when it's not okay; that's when you have failed.

So don't worry about always pulling off deals, deals and more deals. Just learn to offer yourself, which is the best possible thing that you can offer to the whole situation. Then naturally people will take it if it's what they need.

Whether you talk to a taxi driver for a minute, or you talk to your boss, or speak to your client, husband, wife or child, every transaction is affecting your life.

Now the problem with you is that you hold one transaction above the other. You involve yourself more with one and less with the other. It won't work like that. All these things are needed for you to have a fruitful life.

Why don't you just fall in love with the whole situation? Then, work becomes effortless.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

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Global Oneness and The Venus Transit

Apr 30, 2004, 12.00am IST
Kiara Windrider.

The darkest hours of night arrive just before the light of dawn. Undoubtedly, the Earth faces a tremendous crisis today, a painful “dark night of the soul”, maybe even catastrophic obliteration. Yet, according to many ancient traditions, it is also a time of hope, evolutionary renewal and purification: The dawning of a Golden Age.

The ancient Mayan calendar resembles a cosmic timing code, and it reflects a deep understanding of long-term cycles of creation. As evolutionary cycles of cosmic energies are absor-bed into Earth’s electro-magnetic fields via the Sun, human consciousness responds in a predictable manner, following a cosmic pattern of dark and light. The Mayan calendar describes the sequence and timing of these patterns — the year 2012 symbo-lises the end of certain cycles of history based on duality and separation, and represents the birthing of a Golden Age of Enlightenment.

Venus is rich in archetypal symbolism. As the Morning Star, it is the Bringer of Light. It is related to love, human unity, beauty, and oneness. On June 8, 2004, the path of Venus directly crosses over the disc of the Sun, an eclipse lasting for the space of seven hours. The blended radiations make their way into the Earth’s electromagnetic fields, they weave energies of love and unity into the planet’s collective consciousness, and potentially into the hearts of every human on Earth.

Interestingly, Venus transits always come in pairs. The second passage of Venus across the Sun’s disc will take place on June 6, 2012. The eight-year period in between represents a “doorway” through which Unity consciousness will come to dominate our mass consciousness. This is a 130-year cycle and every time this transit has happened, it has represented a new level of harmonisation. Interestingly, the Taj Mahal, a great monument to love, was built during the Venus Transit of 1631-1639 AD.

The transition into Unity consciousness could be turbulent. As old structures of human consciousness collapse, it may be accompanied by a degree of darkness and destruction. “When the light hits”, as Jose Arguelles puts it, “the dark gets tough”. This current “doorway of Venus” is especially significant because it remains open until 2012 AD, the completion of our current cycle of human evolution. Some refer to this date as the end of linear time, the end of a period of human consciousness conditioned by separation and duality. The Mayans refer to it as the Return of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, and look to this eight-year doorway as the timeframe within which mass enlightenment of humanity will take place.
Worldwide, people should observe the days leading up to this Venus Transit as a time for opening to the bright impulse of cosmic energy that is streaming into our collective consciousness. What are our highest dreams and hopes? What is our greatest potential as divinely ins-pired humans? What can we create together as we step into the “doorway” to the Golden Age?


June 6-8 is being promoted worldwide as the Global Oneness Celebration. Let’s come together during this time in gatherings and prayers throughout the world to celebrate love and beauty, light and unity and translate these energies into art, economics, culture, politics, education and ecology. Let us pray for peace, healing, beauty, and global oneness.

(For more information visit http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com)

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Insatiable Appetite Of the Seventh Jar

Apr 29, 2004, 12.00am IST
Hemprabha Chauhan.

Once a messenger walking past a tree heard a voice say: "Will you accept seven jars full of gold?" The messenger looked around, but could see no one. The offer was too good to refuse, so he cried aloud: "Yes, I shall accept the seven jars." At once the voice replied: "Go home, I have carried the jars to your house."


The messenger ran home and when he entered the house he saw the jars and found that except one all the jars were brimming with gold coins. But why was the seventh jar empty? He became obsessed with the desire to fill the seventh jar also, for otherwise, his happiness would be incomplete. So he converted all his ornaments into gold coins and put them in the seventh jar but the mysterious vessel was, as before, empty.


Exasperated, the messenger starved himself and his family, saved more money and tried to fill the jar, but it remained as unfulfilled as before. He requested the king for a pay-hike. His salary was doubled. He saved more and into the jar his savings went but the greedy jar showed no sign of filling up. Begging, cheating, stealing, he acquired more gold that went into the insatiable cavity of the jar. Still, the jar remained unfulfilled.

Seeing his plight the king asked him: "When your pay was half of what you get now, you were happy, cheerful and contented, but with double that pay, I see you morose, care-worn and dejected. What is the matter? Have you got the seven jars?" Taken aback by this question, the messenger confessed to the king.

The king said, "Don't you know what happens to the person to whom the Yaksha consigns the seven jars? He offered me also the same jars, but I asked him whether this money might be spent or was merely to be hoarded. No sooner had I asked this question than the Yaksha disappeared." The king advised the messenger to return the jars to the Yaksha. So the messenger returned to the haunted tree and said: "Take back your gold, O Yaksha." When he went home he found that the seven jars had vanished as mysteriously as they had appeared. And with it had also vanished his life's savings.

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Eat Your Mango and Enjoy It Too

Apr 28, 2004, 12.00am IST
Pravin Shankar Mehta.

The first and foremost of all thoughts in the human mind is the primeval thought "I". Only after this thought, other thoughts arise. Ramana Maharishi says that if you could mentally follow this "I" thread until it leads to its source, you would discover that the first thought to appear, is also the last to disappear. It is the ego-sense which gives birth to the thought "I". The ultimate reality, the self, is obscured by the illusory appearance of this ego-sense, the root cause of all misery and discontent. In following the question "Who am I?" a state would be achieved in the end where all doubts and questions which assail the human mind, strictly limited by sense perceptions, would just fall away like a tree’s dry leaves after a strong wind.
The Mundaka Upanishad states: "When the supreme being is known then the knot is cut, all doubts are dispelled and all the effects of actions stand cancelled". The ego is the parent of all doubts; when it finally disappears, all thought processes which give rise to doubts also disappear like "the unsubstantial pageant, leaving not a trace behind". Superficially it appears that this egoless state is a state of nothingness. Not so. This state is existence, consciousness, bliss, sat-chit-ananda, where all illusory appearances disappear; only the self shines in all its glory.
The sense of "I" pertains to the body and ego-ridden mind, which ceases to exist in the ego-less state. To the Buddha, this is nirvana; Christ calls it the kingdom of heaven and Vedanta terms it moksha or deliverance. So a person does not lose himself; rather, he finds himself. This echoes what Jesus said: "Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it". Shankara says in Vivekachudamani: "The light of self is blurred by the illusory medium of the mind. The self shines only in the egoless state, the only reality. The rest is simply illusion". "Such stuff as dreams are made of", wrote Shakespeare. The moment primeval thought disappears, no doubts remain as the ego-sense no longer exists to raise them. To Osho this is self-awakening. So arise and awaken yourself, he said. Once a monk Maulikyaputta asked the Buddha several metaphysical questions — the nature of creation, the existence of God, and the post-nirvana state. The Buddha declined to give answers just then but promised to do so after one year.

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Choice Options for Sustainable Life

Apr 27, 2004, 12.00am IST
ANIL K RAJVANSHI.

A jackal and a cat met in the middle of a forest. The jackal asked the cat how would he get away from a tiger. The cat said: "I know one way and that is to climb the tree as fast as possible". Then it asked the jackal what his solution would be. The jackal replied: "Brother, I know 101 ways of getting away. For example, I can go into the bush, can climb up the rocks, can hide behind the tree, can go into a hole...".


Suddenly, a tiger appeared. The cat immediately climbed the tree while the jackal pondered — which solution should he adopt? Meanwhile, the tiger pounced on the jackal and killed it.


Too many choices sometimes create conflicts and problems, and lead to unhappiness. Recent scientific and sociological studies done on a large number of subjects show that there seems to be a direct correlation between unhappiness and the number of choices available.


These studies reveal that increased choices have put a tremendous demand on the brain to make the correct decision. However, modern lifestyle based on information overload results in short attention span and makes it difficult for people to think deeply about the choices. The fear of "missing out" on something is very high and this creates internal insecurity, producing a lingering feeling of not having made the right decision. It produces regret and unhappiness, and sometimes leads to impulsive choice making.


Often, increased choices drive greed. The internal insecurity of a person together with the desire to maximise the satisfaction and benefits from the choices leads to acquiring more and more material goods leading sometimes to a buying frenzy. This leads to an ever-increasing spiral of wealth acquisition and spending to acquire more and more goods and ser-vices. In the craze to satiate their spiralling wants, people begin to live beyond their means. All of this produces an unsustainable lifestyle.

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Dnyaneshwar's Gita Has Popular Appeal

Apr 20, 2004, 12.00am IST
A G Mirajgaoker.

Maharashtra has a unique tradition of Bhakti. Great saints propagated the bhakti marg, a path of complete devotion and surrender to God. Poetic compositions called abhangas, shlokas and bhajans of saints like Sant Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Ramdas, Namdev and others are sung or recited in all traditional Maharashtrian homes. Dnyaneshwari is a critical discourse on the Bhagavad Gita by Sant Dnyaneshwar.
The great Mahabharata war took place between the Pandavas and their cousins, the Kauravas, some 5,000 years ago at Kurukshetra. Faced with the might of the huge Kaurava army, Arjuna lost his nerve to fight against his own kith and kin. At that moment, Krishna who was the charioteer of Arjuna, exhorted him on the battlefield to perform his duty as a Kshatriya and fight without worrying about the consequences. Krishna's advice in the Bhagavad Gita is a small chapter in the Mahabharata, comprising 700 shlokas or verses in Sanskrit.
Sant Dnyanes-hwar realised that the Gita's teachings could be read and understood only by a small Sanskrit-knowing elite. Dnyaneshwar, under the advice of his guru, Nivrathinath, rendered a Marathi version of the Gita known as Dnyaneshwari. It contains more than 9,000 verses called ovies. So Sant Dnyaneshwar brought the teachings of the Gita within reach of the common man. Dnyaneshwari was composed around the twelfth century, when Dnya-neshwar was only 16 years old. He took samadhi at the age of 22 and left this mortal world.


The Bible was originally in the Latin language and John Wiklif rendered its English translation which is in use today. That was in the year 1365, about 75 years after Dnyaneshwari was composed. Dnyaneshwari has since been translated into several Indian languages.

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Creative Forgiveness Springs from Love

Apr 17, 2004, 12.00am IST
Janina Gomes.

We need to find truth, love and forgiveness even in the midst of hatred, destruction and pride. Napoleon said: "What astonishes me most in this world is the inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit". In so saying Napoleon touched upon an important principle of forgiveness. That forgiveness is creative and it springs from love. It is the ability to embrace the pain of injury to oneself, while extending one’s hands in love.
Forgiving is not easy. The hurt that others inflict on us haunts us from the past and sullies our future. Unfortunately we tend to identify forgiving with only forgetting. But, by learning to live in the present, we will enable ourselves to embrace the pain of the infliction and heal ourselves as well as others.


Often we let painful memories re-inflict pain. There's so much negativity attach-ed to the memory. To release the memory, Raymond Studzinski says, is to see the injuring party as a human person who like oneself lives in an imperfect world fraught with stress and conflict. Forgiveness is to accept what has happened as past and not as the final word on the other or oneself. That makes it creative.


Edward Guinan says: The heritage that martyrs, resisters and saints have left us is: "Love can and must be lived today, despite the pain and difficulty of life. Tomorrow will carry the tenderness and peace which we live now".

Most psychologists now acknowledge that an important aspect of forgiveness is to forgive oneself first for life exempts none from injury. To be good does not insulate one from hurt inflicted by others. Forgiveness meets the injurer with compassion. It acknowledges that we all have the same destructive tendencies and we carry within ourselves the ability to inflict pain on others.

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Bihu, the Unifying Festival of Assam

Apr 14, 2004, 12.00am IST

Assam is the exotic land of hills, rivers and valleys. From Mansarovar the Brahmaputra flows through Assam and together with its tributaries, it is described as Assam's nervous system.


Nearly 80 per cent of the people of Assam are dependent on agriculture and spontaneous celebration of festivities is associated with the beginning and end of the harvest season. Bihu from the Sanskrit Vishu, is the harvest festival of Assam and is celebrated thrice in a year. The festival at the beginning of the spring season is Bohag Bihu, associated with the Vernal equinox in Chaitra Sankranti. The Kati Bihu is associated with the Autumnal equinox in Ashwina Sankranti.

People often call the Kati Bihu as Kangali Bihu as there is nothing much to eat during that period. People welcome budding paddy crops. The Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu associated with winter solstice is celebrated with food and drinks after harvest, in Pausa Sankranti.

The advent of spring is synchronised with the new year and the Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu is celebrated. The Brahmaputra valley is green and cuckoos sing in the woods. Fragrant flowers and orchids bloom. People sing and dance to the rhythm of the Dhol, Pepa and Gagana, evoking fertility, romance, devotion, cattle and human welfare in a month-long celebration. Domestic animals and family members bathe with raw turmeric paste, horse bean and mustard oil. New clothes are worn. Delicious dishes are prepared and offered to cattle, man and God. Teel Pitha is a cake prepared from dry Bora rice powder and sesame (til).

Bihu songs express the will and desire of the people in an unbroken and integrated tradition. Romance is in the air as the young gather in open fields or under the pipal tree, exchanging feelings of youthful joy. "God created the world first/ Then created the creatures,/ That same God made love/ Why should not we?" From the weaving stand, the womenfolk encourage and inspire their male counterparts to fight enemies. "I shall weave ‘Gamocha' darling/ You will take part in Bihu,/ Shall I weave ‘Riha' of silk darling/ As you will drive out the enemy?" The Hussori songs are linked with the blessings for prosperity and peace throughout the year.

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Baisakhi is Both Sacred & Secular

Apr 13, 2004, 12.00am IST
Pranav Khullar.

The traditional festivals of the Indian diaspora all reflect the ancient concept of the Utsav Mela, which encouraged everyone to congregate, meet and mix amid festivity and pageantry. In fact, the word 'mela' is derived from the word 'mil', meaning to meet.



Baisakhi epitomises the mela notion of convergence for it brings together people of all castes and communities on the first day of Vaisakha, the beginning of the traditional Indian New Year. Basically a harvest festival , Baisakhi marks the ripening of the Rabi harvest, especially in the Punjab. It is called the Naba Barsha celebrations in Bengal, Rongali Bihu in Assam, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Pooram (Vishu) in Kerala.

The Baisakhi mela is, at its simplest, a time to rise above prejudices and join in the unique celebration of life. It embodies, at a deeper level, the concept of cyclical regeneration as in all harvest festivals. Dressed in tahmids , and exotic headgear, menfolk dance the Bhangra and women, the Gidda, both axiomatic of the vitality and energy of the people of Punjab. The traditional love-ballads, poetry symposiums and traditional sports all create an ambience of unrestrained joy and ebullience.
Baisakhi is also inextricably linked with the Sikh tradition. It was on the auspicious day of Baisakhi in 1699 that Guru Gobind Singh instituted the Khalsa Panth at Keshgarh Sahib near Anandpur. Discontinuing with the Sikh tradition of physical gurus, he endowed the Sikhs with a unique identity by declaring that the venerated holy scripture, the Granth Sahib, will be the future guru of the Sikh faith.

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Easter Remembrance: Selfless Service

Apr 10, 2004, 12.00am IST
Ranu Uniyal.

Easter is a reminder of the loving spirit of Christ who stood for sacrifice, love, prayer, selfless service and devotion. Jesus Christ said: "Offer yourself to Me with all your heart". Thomas A Kempis in The Imitation of Christ says: "How countless and constant were the trials endured by the apostles, martyrs, confessors and all those who strove to follow in the footsteps of Christ ... destitute of earthly goods, they were abundantly rich in grace and all virtues. To themselves they were nothing, but in the eyes of God they were precious and beloved."

Many saints lived close to the Spirit of Christ and Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth was one among them. She was born on a Good Friday in 1898, the eldest of 11 children. Even as a child she aspired to join a convent. At 19 years she suffered a paralytic attack and two years later lost her sight. Illness left her indisposed for six years. Known as Resl by her family and dear ones, she believed in Christ as her Saviour. In her visions not only did she see Christ the Saviour performing miracles but also his death and resurrection.

Resl dedicated her life to serve the poor and the needy. Extremely courageous and a committed woman, Resl had an extraordinary will which enabled her to set up a monastery at Fockenfeld. With firm faith in prayer and in the Lord, Resl fought against all odds. Blessed with amazing visionary powers, she found lasting happiness in serving mankind.


Although Therese Neumann lived in times of severe political and social unrest, Hitler is said to have been afraid of this little woman who commanded genuine respect and awe from millions. The Third Reich had specific instructions to leave her alone. But the ensuing battle between Catholicism and Fascism had a painful bearing on the lives of ordinary people. Konnersreuth was set on fire by the Nazis at the end of the war. Somehow Resl managed to save herself and the children from disaster. Despite her frail body and limited resources she spent all her time in the service of God as did her two sisters.
In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda gives an account of his meeting with the great Catholic mystic, Therese, who did not eat. She had chosen to live by "God's Light" and had therefore decided to abstain from food and drink. She firmly believed in the utterance of Christ: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". Untouched by fatigue and hunger she hardly slept. Sanctified by the moral and physical discipline, she worked endlessly for the commu-nity. Like Christ she set about healing the sick and the wounded and took the suffering of others on herself. Stigmata or the sacred wounds of Christ first appea-red on her body in 1926 and became a weekly feature thereafter. Every Friday she went through the Passion of the Christ. With blood trickling down her eyelids and hands, she remained in a state of trance. Like Christ she bore the cross of suffering with great dignity. As the news of her abstinence and stigmatisation spread people started visiting her from all over. Her miraculous healing powers enabled her to pray fervently for the suffering.

The new convent of Adoration at Konnersreuth, Germany, was consecrated in 1963, a year after the death of Therese Neumann. Today, this small town close to the Czechoslovakian border, has become a pilgrimage centre, a tribute to the memory of the three Neumann sisters who set an example of selfless love, self-denial and service to humanity.
(Tomorrow is Easter Sunday.)

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Cycle of Opposites And Anekantvada

Apr 2, 2004, 12.00am IST
Chitrabhanu.

Both violence and non- violence start by degrees. The beginnings are subtle and evolve quietly into grand acts of conflict or compassion.
When Nelson Mandela was released, he was told by some to get even for the monumental wrong that was done to him — but he refused to be swayed by hatred. He said he had already been a physical prisoner of his opponents for long and did not wish to live the rest of his life as their emotional captive.


Mr Mandela understood that to project anger outwards, one must burn internally and that to commit violence upon others, one must first turn violent upon the self. Burning the holder before its enemy, the fire of anger can consume the source before its adversary. Today, if we want to learn to conquer our baser emotions we need to learn from the examples of people like Nelson Mandela, Maha-tma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who forged their choices within the heat of life's most tempestuous battles.
The idea of ahimsa or non-violence is an emancipatory one. Yet it is not just a concept. It begins as a feeling and can grow into an all-encompassing life approach. The idea morphs into a feeling. It is this feeling that transforms others around us. Vardhman Mahavir's life was an example of such self-realisation. He inspired others in an exemplary fashion, imparting wisdom without preaching.
In this manner, true understanding becomes possible. It has been said that an angry person opens his mouth and closes his eyes. It is our mind that needs control. Wars, they say, begin in the minds of men. So it is there that peace must be won. Our sages understood this simple truth ages ago. Mahavira, one of the Tirthankaras, practised the truth of ahimsa, peace and non-violence without setting out to preach to the world.


Mahavira understood the roots of violence in the human psyche. His warning therefore was against absolutism and dogmatism. His stress on Anekantvada was a plea for recognition of the multi-faceted nature of reality. The perception of reality depends on the time, place, nature and state of the viewer. Absolute truth cannot result from any one viewpoint alone. Absolutism for him was an act of mental violence. Relativise the absolute, he pleaded. He wanted respect for different belief systems.
Anekantvada is a vision within which the paradox of all opposites are integrated. If we look at things with balance we will know that opposites are complemen-tary to each other. Without opposites there is no growth and awareness. When we are aware of the cycle of opposites we don't see them as opposites. We see them as compatible for growth, allowing us to approach the world openly.


Mahavira spoke against the mindless acquisitive impulse, and explained how this sets up the system of violence within our lives. He was not impractical or unrealistic. He wanted us to grow beyond the self- limiting principle of greed to enable us transcend our linearisation. It is only the transcendence of the ego, that makes for a larger sympathy, an identification with a larger principle.


Mahavir's compassion extended beyond humanity, to all forms of life. His standpoint makes him a kindred spirit to contemporary environmentalists and animal conservationists. Mahavira speaks to us in the present. It is not by balance of terror or air-dropped bombs that we can make the world a safer place. We can make it a safer place with a transformed consciousness. For that transformation we need to heed the gentle and healing message of Mahavir.

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The Jaina Theory Of Relativity

Apr 1, 2004, 12.00am IST
Acharya Gopilal Amar.

The same man is regarded simultaneously as son, father, son-in-law, father-in-law, nephew, uncle, brother, cousin, husband and so on; yet there is no contradiction owing to an understood relationship which is termed in Jainism as syadvada . The triple stream of right vision, knowledge and conduct flows in one channel, the path to liberation, moksha-marga ; it branches into hundreds of fresh streams of different aims and objects, which as a whole are called 'not-one-end', anekanta , the applied form of which is syadvada .


Syadvada is the Jaina theory of relativity; it makes ahimsa a synonym of Jainism. It can be compared with Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which is based on the principle that all motion is relative, regarding space-time as a fourth dimension. Both theories have a similar world outlook, including the absolute denial of the existence of God, the conviction that the world is objective and knowable, and that there is casual inter-independence of all processes in Nature. Einstein opposed social and national oppression, militarism and reaction, and voiced his protest against the use of atomic energy for military purposes.

Only a dispassionate study based on a sympathetic examination and rational analysis of all experience and beliefs helps mutual understanding and happy reconciliation even in the face of severe antagonism.

The science of laws governing the development of Nature, society and thought, is dialectics; it may be taken to be the background of the theory of syadvada . Dialectics concludes that the higher genera of the existent can each be conceived only as being and not being, as equal to themselves and not equal to themselves, as identical to themselves and as passing into 'something else'. Therefore, being contains contradictions: Single and plural, eternal and transient, immutable and mutable, at rest and in motion.

The art of dialectics terminates into the artistic image which is an unbreakable unity of intertwined opposites, such as the objective and the subjective, the logical and the sensory, the rational and the emotional, the abstract and the concrete, the general and the individual, the necessary and the accidental, the inner (inherent) and the outer, the whole and the parts, the essence and the appearance, the content and the form. Out of all this emerges the universal Jaina motto: paraspar-opagraho jivanam — "the function of living beings is to help one another." The Jaina concept of reality is manifold; that's why Jaina philosophy is called anekanta , meaning non-absolutism. It is concerned with the thought process while syadvada indicates the manner in which that thought process is given expression to.

The Jaina theory of relativity likens the milkmaid, who, holding the ends of rope winding the churning-rod, pulls one end forth to let the other end be pulled back, then pulls the other end forth to let the one end be pulled back. She never pulls both ends forth at the same time, nor does she let both ends be pulled back at the same time; otherwise, the rope will either break or turn loose, disrupting the process of butter-making.

That the Jaina theory promotes ahimsa , is exemplified by an allegory: Two dogs came face-to-face midway on a log placed across a river to serve as a bridge. It was too narrow for one dog to turn back or to move aside to let the other cross. Realising that a tussle would make both drown, one of them lay on the log to facilitate the other to cross over his back, whereafter he got up and went across.
(The writer is former editor, Bharatiya Jnanpith .)

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