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Jainism in a Global Perspective
tradition." But precisely, he was able to create a comingling of the faith traditions of the world and he went back to a mystic poet who is revered very much, Kabir, and he translated for Hindus. What Kabir has said, and this is Gurudeva Rabindra Nath Tagore's translation of Kabir, with which he concluded his inspiring address on that occasion. I quote "the jewel is lost in the mud and all are seeking for it. Some look for it in the east and some in the west. Some in water and some among stones. But the savant Kabir has appraised it, at its true value and wrapped it with care in the corner of the mantle of his own heart. But, this is what is culture. That which is wrapped up in the mantle of your hearts. 'Sanskara'is 'Sanskṛti' or culture. This culture will pave the way for interfaith harmony in our age.
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I would like to quote another beautiful saying by one of the most enlighten Indian prince His Highness Maharaja Shayaji Rao Gaekwad was a man of great vision. He was truely the prototype of Plato's 'Philosopher King' and he put it in beautiful words and he said "Let us amply and in spirit of partnership combine against the common enemies of ignorance, selfishness and materialism. Religions may differ but religion is one". Now this is very important, unity in dversity of Religions. The unity of religion is in the spirit of religion the diversity of religions contribute a tributary to the main stream. The unity of religions contribute to the mainstream. This is important for us to remember, that in the world's faith encounter which this parliament represents today, we must recognise that my own truth is not the only truth. That is why Jainism offers a logical and philosophical prospective of what they call 'Anekantavāda', the logic of the many facets of truth. If an elephant has four legs and you can see only three from a particular stand point you will not proceed to proclaim that the elephant has only three legs. What you do not see is not untruth and what you see is not necessarily truth, the whole truth. Therefore, it is important for us to see what culture can do and what removal of ignorance and creation of understanding can do for inter-faith harmony, for the co-existence of religions not merely in terms of suffering each other but in term of celebrating each other.
I think we must move from the particular proposition which I wrote to you for 1893 to a somewhat revised formulation not merely a mutual
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