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on the door and the priest would hit his head with his hand and he would say, "I have told you again and again that for you, this temple is closed forever."
The man who had made it said, "I wanted to meet you. I can tell the priest you should be allowed in, but please don't ask questions which we cannot answer. Your question is valid; I know you are right. Actually Mallinath was a woman. But why disturb things? For twenty-five centuries we have maintained that he was a man, and now nobody asks about it. All history books have accepted it. You are a strange fellow. From where have you got this idea? We have made it absolutely clear in all the history books, in every possible way. In every temple the statue is of a man."
I said, "Don't be bothered from where I got the idea. The question is.... On the temple door you have written, 'Truth is the highest religion.' Inside, where the shrine is for twenty-four tirthankaras, you have written satyameva jayate: 'Truth is always victorious.' I am not concerned. Who cares? What business is it of mine to be bothered whether this was a man or a woman, whether this person existed or not, even? I am not interested in that. But you should erase these words: satyameva jayate. And just underneath you have the statue of Mallibhai as Mallinath -- and truth is the highest religion! Erase these two sentences, and I will never come to this temple again; if you don't erase them, I am going to continue this every day. You go on refusing, I will go on continuing."
And by and by many people became aware, because at odd hours I would go there -- sometimes in the morning when Jainas were worshipping -- and he would be closing the door and saying, "You cannot come in," and sometimes when spectators were going in he would close the door. And for six months I had no other business; my father was sick, and the temple was just five minutes away. I could go two, three times, four times, as many times as I liked. Even in the night sometimes I would knock and the priest would wake up and he would say, "What! Even in the night...?"
I said, "Unless you erase those two sentences I am not going to leave."
Finally they
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