Over 2,600 years ago, Bhagwan Mahavir renounced everything -- wealth, comfort, even identity -- in pursuit of the deepest truth.
What he found, and what he taught, was not meant only for monks and ascetics.
It was a map for us all. The three principles he taught in particular -- Ahimsa, Anekantavada and Aparigraha -- are as alive and necessary today as they were then. Perhaps more so.
More Than Not Hurting
The common understanding: Ahimsa means non-violence. Don't harm others. Don't kill. A principle most of us were taught in school, associated with Gandhi and the freedom movement.
The deeper meaning: Ahimsa is not a restriction. It is a state of being -- the state of unconditional love.
As Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji explains, the word 'non-violence' was chosen deliberately, not because the principle is negative, but because we needed a bridge from where we are to where we need to be.
We understand violence. We live in it daily -- in our words, our judgements, our indifference to others' pain. So the teaching gently says: Start by not harming. But don't stop there.
The fuller picture of Ahimsa is this: Don't just avoid putting thorns on someone's path -- go out of your way to place flowers there. If you see a stranger fall, Ahimsa doesn't let you walk past simply because you didn't push him. It pulls you toward him.
Why it matters today: We live in an age of casual cruelty -- online comments, competitive workplaces, fractured relationships, indifference to suffering around us. A world that practises even the surface of Ahimsa becomes more decent. A world that grasps its depth becomes genuinely compassionate.
The shift Mahavir pointed to is from 'I will not harm' to 'I wish you well -- and that shift changes everything.
The Wisdom of Many Truths
The common understanding: Anekantavada is often translated as non-absolutism or many-sidedness. It is the Jain philosophical position that truth is complex and no single perspective captures all of it.
The deeper meaning: It is a radical invitation to humility.
Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji describes it this way: The realisation of truth can emerge from its varied aspects. What I see from where I stand is real -- but it is partial. What you see from where you stand is equally real -- and equally partial. A person who truly absorbs Anekantavada stops insisting they have the complete picture. They become, by nature, open and accepting.
This is not relativism. It doesn't say all views are equally correct. It says that no one view is the whole truth. And therefore, listening to another perspective is not weakness; it is wisdom.
Why it matters today: We are living through an epidemic of certainty. Social media has made everyone a pundit. Political conversations have become wars. Families are divided over opinions. Religious identities harden into walls.
Anekantavada offers something the modern world is desperately short of: The intellectual and spiritual humility to say, "I may not have the full picture." That single shift -- from I am right to I may be seeing only part of this -- could defuse more conflicts than any policy ever could.
The Freedom of Enough
The common understanding: Aparigraha means non-possessiveness. Don't hoard. Live simply. Don't accumulate more than you need.
The deeper meaning: Aparigraha is not about how much you own. It is about the delusion of ownership itself.
Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji makes a striking point: Possessiveness is not a collection of things; it is the feeling of being an owner. And this feeling creates an inner void -- an emptiness we spend our whole lives trying to fill with more things, more status, more validation. But external things can never fill an internal space. They remain outside. They cannot enter the realm of the Self.
True Aparigraha is the inner recognition: I am not the owner of anything. Not my house, not my position, not even my opinions. This recognition doesn't empty life-it frees it. When you stop clinging, you stop fearing loss. And when you stop fearing loss, you can finally be present for what is actually here.
Why it matters today: Consumerism has convinced us that acquisition equals happiness. We upgrade, accumulate, compare -- and still feel hollow. Environmental destruction is, at its root, unchecked aparigraha at a civilisational scale. Burnout, anxiety, and the relentless pressure to have more are symptoms of the same disease Mahavir diagnosed millennia ago.
Aparigraha is not a call to poverty. It is a call to examine what we are actually searching for -- and whether more things will ever get us there.
A Living Philosophy
What is remarkable about these three principles is how seamlessly they speak to one another. Ahimsa flows naturally from a heart that has loosened its grip on the ego, which is Aparigraha. And Anekantavada ensures that even our practice of these principles remains humble, never turning into rigidity or self-righteousness.
Together, they form not a rulebook but a way of being: Loving, humble, and free.
On Mahavir Jayanti, perhaps the most fitting tribute to Bhagwan Mahavir is not just celebrating his birth -- but carrying one of these truths a little further into our own lives.
Insights in this article are drawn from the writings of Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, published by Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (srmd.org). Readers are encouraged to explore the original articles for a deeper study of these principles.
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