The Splendour
There is a story. Three students were learning from a teacher. The teacher wanted to test them. He gave them each a hen made of flour and said, "Cut his neck where no one can see." The prince went. The teacher's son went. And Narada also went. The three took their flour hen and separated. The prince went to the forest and thought that nobody could see him there. He broke the neck and came home. The teacher's son thought that in the open birds would see him and so he went into the isolated space of a cave. He broke the neck and came home. Narada went far into the forest into a very desolate place. Then he went deep into a cave. In pitch darkness, he thought nobody would be able to see and began to break the neck, when he stopped. He felt his soul was watching anyway. "The teacher's orders were not to break the neck when anybody was seeing. There is no second person. But I myself am here. I can see, my soul can see. The Lord can see. The free soul is seeing." He returned with the hen.
The next day the disciples went back to their teacher. He asked, The hen made of flour was insentient and not a sentient being. Have you all killed it?" Replied the prince, "Here is the neck and here the body. I went into the forest and strangled it." The teacher's son said, "I went into a cave and strangled it. Even a bird could not see it here. I followed your instructions verbatim." Narada said, "Sir! I was not able to follow your instructions. I went into the dense forest. I walked hundreds of miles. There was no man, bird or beast. There was nobody there. I went into a dark cave where there was only darkness. I wanted to kill the hen there. It then occurred to me that even if nobody is seeing, the soul is. The lord who is all pervading is seeing. How could I find a place where the Lord was not watching? I was helpless. I came home."
The teacher praised Narada.
The man who becomes aware that the soul and the Lord see everything, he is wise. Through this wisdom he is also able to develop non-violence. The ignorant man misuses this very same knowledge. When there is no balance, this knowledge gets misused. Use and misuse both exist. One lady was bathing with her clothes on. Another one saw her and asked, "Sister, why are you bathing with all your clothes on? The clothes will become wet. You should not do this. Bathe alone and take off all your clothes to do so." She replied, "Oh! you do not understand. The sacred texts say that the Lord can see everything. He sees everything, everybody. How can I take off my clothes before him? How can I be undressed before him? So being shy, I bathe with my clothes on." When knowledge or wisdom is not awakened, then facts can be misused. If there is balance then such a situation does not arise. With balance, relativity gains and singular vision does not get footage. The two sides of the scale are in balance. The one who has the perspective of anekanta does not take a single dimensional view of things and twist logic like that woman. He does not mismanage his affairs with it but instead puts it to use and proves its validity like Narada. This is possible only through balance. In the explanation of the universal laws anekanta has lent balance. Even in the world of conduct and thoughts, anekanta plays an important role. Restraint and equanimity are also results of anekanta. Without the anekanta view there would be no reason for restraint. Through anekanta we accept the coexistence of opposites as a fact. Nothing in this world is without limits. Everything has its limits. There is need for equanimity. Loss and gain, both are to be accepted. It is the norm of life that if there is gain there will also be loss and if there is loss, there will also be gain. The two are not distanced; they are mutually connected and go together. Gain is linked to loss and loss to gain. The two are one. The difference is only in time or space. There is no distance between happiness and sorrow. No distance between life and death, they both go together. Sometimes one feels happy and life seems bright and sometimes one feels sad and life seems miserable. Where is the distance between water pulleys? It is one single chain. The wheels bring in water, empty it and return. Wheels full of water and empty of water keep coming and going. They work together. Similarly joy and sorrow work together. Life and death work together. There is no second that belongs entirely to life or entirely to death. The first second of life is also the first second of death. Death is not an event that is to take place after 70-80 years. It can take place even in the first second. With the first second of birth the event of death also takes place. The one who does not die in the first second will become immortal, he will never die. The one who is not born in the first second cannot be created in the next. Every object experiences birth every second. Creation and destruction go hand in hand. One cannot find even one man who has been only praised, never condemned or always condemned and never praised. Both go together. The balance is maintained.