Dr. N.L. Kachhara
Metarya went to Mahavira. Mahavira addressed him and said, "Metarya! You have a doubt about rebirth. You do not distinguish between the components of wine and its intoxicating property and similarly disregard any difference between matter (jada, body) and soul (chaitanya). So to you the concept of rebirth is meaningless and unnecessary. You think that when the components of the body fall apart (or are destroyed) the chaitanya (soul) also loses existence and therefore there is no next birth. This concept remains unchanged even if the existence of a universal soul in place of the individual soul is accepted."
Clarifying these doubts, Mahavira said, "Consciousness is a property of the soul and not of matter (the body), as explained to your friends earlier. Therefore, you must accept that the soul is different from the body. It was also made clear before that there are an infinite number of souls in the loka and the Gods (deva), hell and heaven exist. Hence rebirth is proved. The soul is eternal: it follows the law of creation and destruction of its modes and continues to exist after bodily death. You must not doubt rebirth and reincarnation."
Metarya's doubt was removed and he and his 300 disciples joined the Order of Mahavira.
