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Śrīmad can be regarded as a reformer in so far as we find in his views a beautiful blend of householder and of a spiritual aspirant. He proved to the world that religion has to be followed in every act of life and that in spite of performing duties towards parents, wife, children, and doing other social activities one can live a detached life. He earned money only for his simple livelihood devoid of greed.
He also studied various sects of Jaina religion, and found that there was great rivalry amongst them because they had forgotten the welfare of their own souls and the principle of Anekānta preached by Mahāvīra. After his extensive and unbiased study and research, he came to the revolutionary conclusion that all religions preach only Ātmadharma and therefore there is, in essence, only one universal religion of Atmadharma and hence it is not necessary to belong to any particular religion or sect, in which one is born. This revolutionary idea of Śrīmad goes against the traditionalist view of religion, which regards that, one's own religion or sect is true and those of others as false (Mithyā). He therefore re-established that permanent and the eternal (dhrauvya) is the atmadharma and not the sectarian beliefs and outward ways of worship which are really of the nature of origin and destruction (utpāda and vyaya).
In the present age, some aspirants try to find their salvation through the mere observances of rites and some others through dry intellectual knowledge. Merely following the rituals and overlooking their spiritual significance, the ritualists denounce the path of knowledge as they hold that only practicing rituals alone is sufficient. This is so because the traditional Jainism holds that ones the knowledge obscuring karmas are shed off through the 12 forms of nirjarā one does not feel the need to aspire for Samyag-jñana of which śrīmad was critical.
He therefore says that "Samyag-darśana is necessary to attain samyag-jñana" Therefore according to him any action and mere knowledge devoid of samyag-darśana is not worthy to follow. Mere external kriyas or dry intellectualism, both of them lead to the development egoistic attitude. Therefore in terms of Srimad both self-effort and intellectual understanding are insufficient for the self-realization.
2.2 His Views In the order of Pañcaparmesthi, Arihanta and Siddha are the supreme and those who have attained liberation. Therefore the aim of the sādhus, upādhyayas and ācāryas is to attain the supreme state. Even though they may have highest of the scriptural knowledge, they may be
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0
| SR No. | 007711 |
| Book Title | ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | International School for Jain Studies |
| Publisher | International School for Jain Studies |
| Publication Year | 2013 |
| Total Pages | 352 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 21 MB |