________________
PREFACE
I
t was on a cold December day in 2010 when I reached Kundkund . Bharti, New Delhi, to seek the blessings of Achārya 108 Vidyanand ji Muniraj. The Acharya instructed me to reflect upon the following verse that appears in Samayasara1 by Āchārya Kundkund:
एदम्हि रदो णिच्चं संतुट्ठो होहि णिच्चमेदम्हि । एदेण होहि तित्तो होहिदि तुह उत्तमं सोक्खं ॥
(7-14-206)
(हे भव्य!) तू इस ज्ञान में सदा प्रीति कर, इसी में तू सदा सन्तुष्ट रह, इससे ही तू तृप्त रह । (ज्ञान - रति, सन्तुष्टि और तृप्ति से) तुझे उत्तम सुख होगा।
Translated into English, it suggests:
(O bhavya potential aspirant to liberation!) Always adore this knowledge, in this only always remain contented, and fulfilled. You will attain supreme bliss (through knowledge-adoration, knowledgecontentment, and knowledge-fulfillment).
I had earlier printed Samayasara for Kundkund Bharti in 1994 and had gone through, intently, all the pages of the treatise during the process of proofreading. Samayasara could not create any lasting impression on me. But it was different this time. Just one verse in the treatise impelled me to start the study of Samayasara in right earnest. I found in Samayasara answers to most intriguing riddles that agitate human mind. Why the treatise could not influence me then is explained most beautifully and authoritatively in Samayasara itself:
सत्थं णाणं ण हवदि जम्हा सत्थं ण याणदे किंचि ।
तम्हा अण्णं णाणं अण्णं सत्थं जिणा विंति ॥
(10-83-390)
शास्त्र ज्ञान नहीं है क्योंकि शास्त्र कुछ नहीं जानता ; इसलिए ज्ञान अन्य है, शास्त्र अन्य है, ऐसा जिनेन्द्रदेव कहते हैं।
(ix)
