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PREFACE : XXXIX
Vācaka Umāsvāti, the author of the Tattvārtha Sūtra, has, in his treatise, placed the right-belief before the rightknowledge and the right-conduct.' Ācārya Kundakunda says in his treatise on right-belief, (Darsana Pāhuda), that the faith is based on the right-belief.?
However, there is no conflict regarding the relative relationship between the right-conduct vis-à-vis the right-belief and the right-knowledge. Knowledge and belief have been accorded primacy over the right-conduct. Conduct means progress on the spiritual path, while the right-knowledge is its comprehension and the right-belief is the belief that the rightpath is going to take him to his ultimate goal. It has been said in the Uttarādhyayana that an aspirant must know the spiritual path through the right-knowledge, believe in it through the right-faith and practice it by adhering to the dictates of the right-conduct and thus he must purify his soul through the right-penance.
Although no disagreement can be shown with the saying that the effort in the form of the right-conduct is essential to attain one's goal of spiritual salvation, but the effort, too, must be right and headed in the right direction. The goal cannot be attained through mere blind efforts. If the knowledge and belief of a practitioner are not right his conduct cannot be right either. That is why, giving primacy to the belief over the conduct, it has been said in the Jaina scriptures that the right-conduct is not possible in the absence of the right-belief. It has been said in Bhaktaparijñā that one who is corrupt of faith is really corrupt, not the one who is corrupt of conduct, because one with the
Tattvārtha Sūtra, 1/1. 2 Darśana Pāhuda, 2. 3 Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, 28/35.
* Ibid, 28/29. Jain Education International
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