Acharya Mahaprajna
Mahavira harmonized spiritualism and materialism. In the ancient times, the issue Brahma satyam jagat mithya (Brahma, the eternal spirit is real, the world is an illusion) was debated. Should the world, which exists before us, be called an illusion? How can an object, which is visible, be nonexistent? Mahavira expressed the view that materialism is true and the soul is also true. Is matter not real? If life is real, is death not real? Both are real.
Whatever Mahavira said was said on the basis of experienced perception. He said that if one wanted to turn somebody spiritual all at once, he would not succeed. Make your move in that direction gradually, augment his yearning, sharpen his yearning for knowledge - then the work will get done automatically. In fact, there is a great need for showing the way to today's man who has gone astray? The entire world is becoming materialistic. It believes that wealth is the main thing. It is necessary to change this mentality. Continuous effort should be made in this direction.
