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34 : JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD suffering, binds the soul to a body with its limits and faults, determines family, social status, personality, length of life and contributes to maintain souls in the “samsāra” for a long or a short time.
The essential idea in Jain religion is that each mundane soul is enslaved, imperfect and subject to transmigrations but may be delivered from this state and attain omniscience (kevala-jñāna), perfection (siddhi), release from the cycles of transmigrations (saṁsāra) and divinity, if it makes sufficient efforts to totally suppress its association with "karmic matter. Jains are not fatalists; they think that each living being can succeed. It depends only on him (or her) to reach this goal. They affirm that eminent and venerable beings (Arhat) have succeeded in doing this. They worship them as “conquerors" (Jina) or "ford makers” (Tirthankara), for having gained lib (mokṣa) and taught humans the way to do the same.
For the Jains, these venerable beings that lived in India at different times are the models and the great benefactors of humanity. Their teachings, that have been recorded in the Jain sacred books, with some differences on limited questions according to the obedience, are their road map. They read and meditate upon the tenets contained in these Holy Scriptures and do all they can to put them in practice in their daily lives.
The means to gain liberation, as taught by the “Tirthankara”, by those who have built the ford (tirtha) that permits human souls to cross the ocean of bondage to the world, are defined in the three jewels (ratna-traya) of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. The Digambara add to these: religious law and asceticism.
In this chapter, we will see who are these beings, these benefactors of humanity, these “ford-makers", these “conquerors” that Jains revere as models
Jains who worship images (Mūrtipūjaka) have reproduced many times and in different ways these revered beings. They have carved
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| SR No. | 001794 |
| Book Title | Jains Today in World |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Pirre Paul AMIEL |
| Publisher | Parshwanath Vidyapith |
| Publication Year | 2008 |
| Total Pages | 360 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, History, Religion, E000, & E005 |
| File Size | 24 MB |