Jaina Gazette 1927

SR No.: 034889
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J L Jaini, Ajitprasad
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office
Publication Year: 1927
Total Pages: 568
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 88

RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 53
fact that His son, Bharat Chakravarti was the first Emperor after whom India came to be known as Bharat Varsha, as the Jaina and the Hindu accounts concurrently maintain.
The Jainas maintain that as a science Religion is eternal, though it is periodically lost and rediscovered by men. The last great Teacher of Jainism was the Tirthamkara Mahavira who was a senior contemporary of Buddha. All the Tirthamkaras were men, who became Perfect and fully divine. They are the real living Gods; besides them Jainism recognizes the claim of no other gods or goddesses to divinity.
The word Tirthamkara signifies the maker or founder of a Tirtha (which is affordable passage across a sea). Because the Tirthamkaras discover end establish such a passage across the sea of samsara (transmigratory state of souls). They are given that title. The Jaina worship of the Tirthamkaras is not idolatry. The Tirthamkara is not an idol in any sense of the word. It is idealatry, as I have explained in some of my books. The Tirthamkara is the ideal for man who can attain to His eminence, and become in all respects like Him, by following in His Footsteps. He is not worshipped in the ordinary sense of the word. He is merely the ideal of Perfection for ourselves, not the grantor of it or of any other kinds of boons to us. No prayer is ever made to the Tirthamkara in Jainism for this reason. As a matter of fact the Jaina attitude is purely scientific in this respect. The scientist studies the nature of things and obtains what he wants that way; similarly, the Jainas recommend the study of things (in Sanskrit, vastu svarupa) for the attainment of perfection. From this point of view all the Tirthamkaras were Professors of the Spiritual Science which enables men to become Gods. Reverence and homage are paid to Them because Their example is the greatest source of divine inspiration for ourselves, and because the rule is that if you want to become perfect yourself you must take some one who has attained to perfection himself as your model, and follow in his footsteps steadfastly.
To come to the SCIENCE OF SPIRIT or LIFE as Religion in its true significance really is, the first thing to know is that the Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat