Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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The Unknown Pilgrims
organised, the mentality of the society in which they live, unfavourable as it is towards serious study for women, a certain monopoly being exercised by the ācāryas and munis, do not get further than a form of faith and belief which is based on a bare orthodoxy; this means that they force themselves to learn by heart, without always going into them more deeply, certain sūtras and formulas which constitute the correct verbal expression of the dharma, because tradition enjoins this upon them. Often they go no further than this stage in assimilating the transmitted body of beliefs, simply accepting it as such, studying it by heart because this comprises a part of what one must believe, without asking questions, without much reflection or deeper thought in its regard. On account of this the second dimension, that of knowledge, atrophies. Hence, although the sādhvis believe in the fundamental doctrinal tenets outlined in the following chapters and despite the fact that they on the whole know the main points of these basic tenets, many have never had the possibility of undertaking that exercise of reflection upon them that this description of them implies and they would certainly not have committed them to writing in this way. We must realise that, being as they are within a system and in a fairly closed milieu, it is difficult for them to stand back, as it were, gain perspective and pose questions. Furthermore, if certain questions should confront them, many sādhvis , for want of knowledge and a sufficiently large vocabulary, would not know how to formulate them in words. Nevertheless, certain very courageous sădhvis pioneers, concious of these deficiencies, have encouraged study and reflection. More and more we find a very positive movement in favour of serious study, with exactly this aim and object of deepening belief through and towards more enlightened knowledge. 4 Our study endeavours to transmit what certain sādhvis and äryikās, very well versed in their doctrine, would themselves express, except that having never gone out of their own setting, they would use a more restricted terminology
Faith and knowledge shape life and facilitate right action
Right conduct is inseparable from belief and knowledge and the (three, when fully implemented, lead to Deliverance. The life of the
4 All this will be studied in Part III.