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JAIN MISTICIS ARTEM
HIRALAL JAIN
Mystery means a secret; and mysticism has come to signify that hidden or inexplicable mental attitude in which there is a direct apprehension of the Supreme Being. The word is derived from the Greek muo which means close eyes or lips, and which may be equated with the Prakrit muo and the sanskrit muka meaning mute or silent. This origin of the word itself shows the behaviour of a mystic who, by a course of contemplation and self-discipline, seeks union with the Divine. Silence and closed eyes are necessary conditions of mystic experience which is essentially an esoteric or inward phenomenon. From times immemorial there have lived persons in different lands and at different times who profess to have enjoyed a direct perception of the Divine Self. The literature of the different religions of the world has preserved many details about the mystic experiences of great saints and philosophers. The Upanishad texts are full of mystic philosophy promulgated by a large number of thinkers amongst whom we find the names of Nachiketa, Maitri, Aruni, Kaushitaki, Trishanku, Yajnavalkya, Sandilya and many others. Lord Krishna was a mystic and the Bhagavata Purana has preserved accounts of many other mystic saints. At a later period Shankara and Ramanuja propounded their own mysticism, and they were followed by a series of mystics such as Chaitanya, Ramananda, Kabira aud Mirabai. Buddhism produced many mystic saints and accounts of Kanhu, Dombi, Vina, Saraha, Gundari, and many others have come down to us. We find mysticism in Plato the greatest of the Greek philosophers, and in the many followers of his school. There is a good deal of mysticism in
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Shatabdi Granth ]
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