________________
RECONCILIATION,
943
within his own heart, and not for the style and structure of the places made by human hand.
As regards image-worship, true worship being 'idealatry,' and not idolatry, as repeatedly pointed out before, anything which has the tendency to bring us nearer the ideal in view is a fit object for holy concentration. The images of those Great Ones who have attained to everlasting bliss, and whose lives, therefore, constitute beacons for our guidance in the turbulent sea of samsára, thus, are the fittest objects of worship. Those who regard the Jainas as idolators have no idea of the sense in which they worship their twentyfour Gods, nor of the object of devotion. The images of the Blessed Ones possess three great and priceless virtues which are not to be found in any non-Jaina image of God; and these are :
(1) They at once inspire the mind with the fire of self-less vairâgya (renunciation), and exclude the idea of begging and bargaining with God;
(2) They constitute the true Ideal and point to the certainty of its attainment, thus removing and destroying doubt each time that the worshipper's eye falls on them ; and
(3) They teach us the correct posture for meditation and Self-contemplation.
As to the first of these advantages, it is sufficient to say that philosophy can never tolerate the hypocritical form of worship which is in vogue amongst the generality of mankind. Ordinary worship is the worship of a God-King whose omnipotence man is led to dread, and whom he wants to propitiate by food, song and praise, so
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org