Acharya Mahaprajna
Leshyadhyana [Perception of Psychic Colours] and Svasthya [health]
A man eats a mango or an orange. Its form is visible. If we think from the point of view of the science of the colours, the conclusion would be that it is not any concrete substance, but only a condensed form of colour. Everything in our world is full of colours. The soul is without any colour or some other elements may be without the colours. Otherwise, the entire visible world, all the material world is colourful. The colours too are of various kinds. At a certain frequency of vibrations, the colour becomes dense and visible.
Strange Question: Strange Answer
It should be accepted that the whole world is a world of colours. It is not that the colours are exhibited on the stage when a Drama is being enacted, but there are colours, and only colours in every moment and every activity of our life. One of the forms of the colour is the ray. The principle of the leshya is the principle of the rays; it is the principle of the colours. The principle of the leshyas was promulgated by Bhagvan Mahavira 2,500 years ago. Even before him, lot of light was thrown on the principle of the colours in the times of Bhagvan Parshva. How do the colours influence us? It is a very important question. How are the colours related to man's instincts? Eighteen kinds of sins such as violence, untruth, stealing etc. have been mentioned.
Gautama asked Bhagvan Mahavira, "Oh, Lord! A person commits violence. How many colours does violence have? How many smells? How many tastes? How many touches?" The foremost question is the one about the colours. Mahavira said, "Violence has five colours."
It was a strange answer to a strange question. This aphorism can be explained only in terms on the principle of leshya or of the modern science of the colours. If all the 18 sins are analysed from this point of view, a full-fledged independent treatise can be prepared.
It is very natural to ask such a question about violence, because one man commits too much violence, while another man does it much less. Yet another commits still less violence. And there may also be a man who would shudder at the very sight of an ant and would step back. There may also be a man who would deliberately crush the swarming ants and yet his heart would not shudder. What is the reason, after all? It is all the impact of the colours. When a particular colour has an evil effect on a particular person, he would be prone to violence to that extent and takes delight in it. His heart does not tremble when he acts violently. When a particular colour in a person has a benevolent effect on him, he is averse to violence to that extent.
