Jainattva Kya Hai

SR No.: 009401
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Udaymuni
Publisher: Kalpvruksha
Publication Year: 2012
Total Pages: 84
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 3 MB

Page 84

ANTIQUITY OF JAINISM (NIRGRATHA) The late Heinrich Zimmer, who is reputed to have been the greatest German Indologist of modern times, in his celebrated posthumous work. The philosophies of India, conceded that there is truth in the jain ideal that their religion goes back to a remote antiquity, the antiquity in question being that of the preAryan, so called Dravidian period, and that Jainism is the oldest of all Dravidian born philosophies and religions. He also, psychologically demonstrated that jain yoga originated in preAryan India, and has nothing to do with orthodox Brahmanism which simply appropriated it in later centuries. Noel Retting, another indologist, writes, "only in Jainism, of all the living religions, do we see a fusion of the primitive with the profound. It has preserved elements from the first stage of man's religious awareness, animism. It affirms the separateness of spirit from matter, even though our modern philosophers and religionists regard neither form of dualism as untenable, despite the opinion of these men, Jainism is fundamentally scientific, And, it may very well be, contrary to the opinions of many anthropologists and students of comparative religion, the oldest living faith." And, professor L.P. Tessitory is of opinion that Jainism is of a very high order. It important teachings are based upon science. The more the scientific knowledge advances the more the jain teachings will be proven." In fact, the jain system of thought is so wonderfully consistent with modern realism and science that one may easily be tempted to question its antiquity, about which, however, there is now no doubt. As Dr. Walthur Schubring observes, "He who has a thorough knowledge of the structure of the world cannot but admire the inward logic and harmony of jain ideas. Hand in hand with the refined cosmographical ideas goes a high standard of astronomy and mathematics." Dr. Hermann Jacobi also believes that "Jainism goes back to a very early period, and to primitive currents of religious and metaphysical speculation, which gave rise to the oldest Indian philosophies. They (the Jains) seem to have worked out their system from the most primitive notions about matter."