Sagar Jain Vidya Bharti Part 6

SR No.: 001689
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Shodhpith Varanasi
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 202
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Articles
File Size: 12 MB

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the Brahmanical and Śramanical saints are remembered as Arhat Rși and their teachings are regarded as an Agama." Haribhadra - Jaina saint of eighth century AD was a staunch preacher of religious tolerance. In his works Šāstra vārtāsamuccaya and Yogadřştisamuccaya, he has elaborately illustrated this liberal outlook.
In the Yogadrșțisamuccaya, he remarks that the ultimate truth transcends all states of worldly existence, called nirvāṇa and is essentially and necessarily "single" even ifit be designated by different names, like Sadāśiva, Parabrahman, Siddhātmā, Tathāgata etc." Not only in the general sense but etymologically also they convey the same meaning. In Lokatattvanirnayahe says “I venerate all those who are free from all vices and adorned with all virtues, be they Brahmā, Vişņu, Śiva or Jina.'18 Haribhadra's crusade against sectarianism is unique and admirable in the history of world-religions. This view is further supported by various Jaina thinkers of medieval period such as Akalarka, Yogindu, Mānatunga, Hemacandra and many others. While worshipping Lord Śiva, the Jaina pontiff Hemacandra says: "I worship those who have destroyed attachment and aversion which are the seed or birth and death, be they Brahmā, Vişnu, Siva or Jina." "It is important that though Hemacandra was a Jain-saint, he composed a hymn in praise of Siva. This liberalism is also maintained by later Hindi or Gujarati Jaina writers like Anandaghana and many others.
Anandaghana, a mystic Jaina saint of the 17th century A.D. remarks that just as ocean includes all the rivers so does Jainism all other faiths. Further, he beautifully expounds that all the six heretic schools are the organs of Jinaand one who worships Jinaalso worship them. 20 A Hindi couplet (20 cent.) reads:
buddha vira jina hari hara brahma ya usako svādhina kaho/ bhakti bhāva se prerita ho, yeha citta usi me līna raho//
Along with these literary evidences there are some epigraphical evidences of religious tolerance of the Jainas. Some Jaina Ācāryas such as Rāmakīrti and Jayamangalasūri wrote the hymns in the praise