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Main Index
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it is. For example, under Mahavira is the symbol of the lion. So any statue with the symbol of the lion is Mahavira's. You just change the symbol, and no scholar....
In my neighborhood, in the same university where I was teaching, lived the best Jaina scholar of India, Doctor Hiralal Jain. I took him a statue of Mahavira which was presented to me, but I erased the symbol. He was an old man, and really wise, knowledgeable. I asked Doctor Hiralal, "Whose statue is this?" He said, "But where is the symbol?" I said, "I have erased the symbol. I want to know from you, is there any way to find out whose statue this is?" He said, "You are strange. There is no way. Scholarship cannot help at all in this matter, because all twenty-four statues are really exactly the same." I asked him why they are the same. He said, "That, too, is beyond me, because no Jaina scriptures give the answer why they are the same. Do you have any idea?"
I said, "I always have some idea. My idea is that these statues don't represent real people, they represent qualities. And all the twenty-four tirthankaras are bound to have similar qualities. For example, this earlobe. Everybody who is not a Jaina laughs -- why such a long earlobe? It is never seen anywhere...."
In my whole life I have come across only one man, but even his were not perfect. They were not touching his shoulders, just almost.... I said, "You just massage your earlobe. Try, so it starts touching your shoulders." He said, "Why? Already people call me donkey, and you want me to make my earlobes longer!" I said, "If you can manage to make your earlobe touch your shoulder, then I can declare you the twenty-fifth tirthankara of the Jainas. You will be immensely respected." He said, "I don't want to get into any trouble. Your suggestions always lead to trouble. You just forgive me and don't tell anybody." Otherwise I have not seen anything like that. But why do all Jaina tirthankaras have such long ears? "To me," I told Doctor Hiralal, "they are symbolic. It is symbolic art. These long ears show that the man was capable of listening. People are dead they don't listen. And these people must have listened to the ultimate
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