Jains Through Time

SR No.: 006591
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shilapi Sadhvi
Publisher: Veerayatan
Total Pages: 282
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 111

The Jains through Time
Scriptures are the voice of the Realised Souls and the foundations of our faith. However, the religious history of the world tells us that no Venerable One has ever written any scriptures himself. Whatever is in the sacred texts has been handed down to us through the oral tradition. The words of the masters have then been written down, and in the process the writers have excluded some of the teachings, and added some thoughts of their own. The works so compiled were accepted as scriptures, and became the focus of human faith. These interpolated passages could not qualify as the truth, and so some of the facts expounded in the scriptures have lost their credibility. But because the scriptures are the object of our faith, the dilemma remains as to whether we can deny or doubt in any way the facts contained in them.
There are many things written in the scriptures. Who will make the distinction between the words of the prophets, and the additions or interpolations, and how is it to be done? This all-important, but most difficult task, can be accomplished only by one who is coloured to the core by faith in the Venerable Ones, whose transcendental wisdom is one with the truth, and whose finely-honed vision can penetrate the outer trappings of words and touch upon their innermost meaning.
Gurudev Shri Amar Muniji clearly possessed all these qualities. By means of his extraordinary intellect, he carried out the praiseworthy task of discerning the voice of Tirthankar Mahavir among the words of the scriptures that to date had commanded people's total faith, and presented the revered words to us. He established the validity of the scriptures by daring to remove the interpolations from them. The arguments he used to distinguish between the scriptures and the other commonplace compilations are presented in the following pages:
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