What is Jainism

SR No.: 006714
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain
Total Pages: 210
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 11 MB

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
The pratibimbas of the Holy Tirthamkaras, depicting Them in the serene dispassionate attitude of pure equanimity, inspire us with the holiest of thoughts and engender the true spirit of vairāgya in our hearts; they also teach us the correct posture for meditation and dhyana (self-contemplation). Consecrated photos of Living Divinity, they are well calculated to awaken the divine in ourselves, inspiring us with confidence in our own souls by the example of the Great Ones whom they represent. For all the Tirthamkaras were, at one time, men of flesh and blood like ourselves-aye, and sinful souls too; but They have destroyed the bondage of Their karmas, while we are still involved in it. Jainism is the scientific Path of Perfection, and its first principle is that no results are ever achieved except by one's own exertion. The Holy Ones put this great principle into practice and perfected Themselves, attaining to heights of glory beyond the imagination of ordinary men. Pure perfect Knowledge, embracing all the facts of the three worlds-Celestial Realms, our own World and the lower Regions (Pātāla, hells and the like)-and of the three times, the past, present and future, infinite perception, undying, unending, unabating bliss and innumerable other divine qualities find an abode in Their pure Souls. Death, disease, sorrow and sicknesscannot affect Them; They are beyond the reach of ill-luck and pain! Those who follow Them attain to Their Greatness and Perfection, and becoming like Them in all respects reach nirvana at the top of the universe, to reside there, for ever, in the undisturbed enjoyment of infinite peace, tranquillity and joy, together with all those other attributes-omniscience, immortality and the like-which people associate with their Gods. For divinity is verily the real nature of the soul, though it is defiled and vitiated by the forces engendered. by individual karmas in the case of unredeemed beings. Jainism is the creed which enables the soul to destroy the bondage of karma, and the Tirthamkaras are the greatest friends and well-wishers of Jivus (souls) whom They take by the hand, as it were, and carry across the turbulent sea of samsara, provided They are allowed to do so. Who, then, can describe the glory of the system-what language is competent to paint the Greatness of the Masters, that enable the soul to free ! itself from its inauspicious bondage of karmas, that impart to it strength