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Editors' Note
Darshan, Mahāvira, first of all, made individual perfect, and subsequently made him responsible for social welfare. He propagated, with all vigour, the vows of Ahimsā and Aparigraha with a view to ensuring equal distribution among all living beings. Mahāvira implemented it in his own life and thus put forth an example before the people.
In the field of religion and philosophy, Mahāvira propagated independence of individual and manysidedness of truth. He rejected the idea of being guided by an invisible force and preached that a man is architect of his own fortune. It was Mahāvīra only who, for the first time, advocated absolute liberty in every field of life. Today's value of life is by no means different from it. Every individual in this world wants to lead an independent life and wishes to make progress. He is no longer prepared to tolerate any external interference either of human being or divine. From this view-point the theory of Karman propagated by Mahāvīra gives the message of self-dependence of the individual as well as of the masses.
The theory of Anekānta propagated by Mahāvīra has a great relevance today. It is not wise to stick to any one-sided approach to a problem. One has to ponder over all the aspects and has to consider the manysidedness of truth. The threads of national integration are rooted in it. Regarding the concept of the world etc., Mahāvira's ideology is very much scientific. Many of these ideologies have been found correct by modern scientific inventions also.
The articles of A. N. Upadhye, P. L. Vaidya, J. C. Jain, Nathmal Tatia, Beni Prasad, Prabhakar Machwe and S. C. Jain have been taken from the Indian Institute of World Culture, Bengalore, No. 25; Proceedings of Prakrit Seminar, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, 1968; Proceedings of the Seminar in Prakrit
Studies, University of Poona, 1969; Bhikshu Smriti Grantha, Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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