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Speech delivered by Mr. A. L. Dias,
Governor of West Bengal on the occasion of Release of Bhagavati Sutra and Mahavir Jayanti Celebration
It gives me great pleasure to associate myself with the observance of Mahavira Jayanti which marks this year the beginning of the 2500th Nirvana celebrations of Lord Mahavira. It is only in the fitness of things that you are releasing on this occasion an English translation of the encyclopaedic work, Bhagavatī Sūtra (Vol. I), the 5th limb of the Jaina Canon by Prof. K. C. Lalwani. India has produced a galaxy of saints, philosophers and religious teachers-Buddha, Mahavira, Sri Chaitanya, Aurobindo, Vivekananda and Gandhiji-to mention a few. They moulded the destiny of this great country from generation to generation and introduced religious reforms which did not neglect the social and economic conditions of the particular age.
It is a pity, however, that so little organised effort is made to impart to the younger generation the basic tenets and the metaphysical and ethical concepts of the great religions of our country. A whole new generation is growing up which has little or no knowledge of the seers and religious teachers who, from time to time, have made seminal contributions in the field of religion and philosophy. There is clearly a
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