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JAIN PERCEPTION OF GITA
when it says "That place is not illumined by sun or moon or fire. Having gone there one does not return back. That is where I reside" The second line of verse 21 of chapter 8 expresses the same idea when it says, "My place is there reaching which one does not come back. (to this world).
Consequent to this belief Jainism would not proceed to appreciate Gita verses on the ground that Shri Krishna was an "Avatara" though it would readily believe that Shri Krishna was one of those rare human beings who are destined to shape the cultural ethos of a nation and who are found as one born rarely and once in a thousand of years.
It is for this reason that to understand the core teachings of Gita, whenever Vyas puts certain words in the mouth of Shri Krishna as suggesting He is omniscient and omnipotent and that he pervades the whole universe, the reference is not to be taken as made to a human being named Shri Krishna, the son of Devaki and Vasudev but to the Divine power
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