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The Never-ending Pilgrimage
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accordance with the ideal traced by the first sages of their tradition. The way of life of the āryikās and the basic doctrinal difference which distinguishes them from the sadhvis, namely strimukti-nişedha, denial of Liberation to womankind, are dealt with in the last chapter of this Part.
2. An existential approach
We now follow closely the major Sūtras, relating them to our own contemporary context and using the translations and commentaries of both munis and sādhvis. In addition to these Sūtras, this part has also drawn inspiration from sundry writings of sadhvis and äryikās, but these texts and writings would alike remain very distant from us, if there had not been meetings with numerous sādhvis and some āryikās.
Coolness and burning hcat
This is the title of a joumal kept over a period of twenty-four years, very condensed and lively and with a deeply thoughtful content, by Mahāsati Šri Umarāvakumvara, when, with her group, she was making a lengthy vihậra of several years duration, walking on foot from the burning desert of Rājasthāna to the snow-clad heights of the Himālayas.13 The Mahāsati, in her preface, says that the ascetics are perpetual vagabonds. She compares the refreshing cool and beauty of certain regions and the heat, scorching wind and aridity of other regions to the spiritual climate of the ascetic's pilgrimage. She points out clearly that, in this pilgrimage, it is the burning heat, that of tapas, of that austerity which plays its part in the destruction of karman, that is predominant. This process of purification gives rise in those sädhvis who are zealous to a gradually increasing coolness, the refreshing coolness which characterises that spirit which is disengaged from matter. Another element of coolness on this arid path is the maternal affection of the guruņi.
The five chapters of this part indicate the different stages occurring in the life of the anagāris (homeless ones) from the dikşă
13 Cf. Umarävakusvara, 1962.
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| SR No. | 007014 |
| Book Title | Unknown Pilgrims |
| 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 |