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OCTOBER, 1973
I close with the words of Harisatya Bhattacharyya :
"If for the purpose of worship of an ordinary form, God is taken as a being of infinite power, bliss and intelligence, the Jainas would point to the Arhat ; if the life of a religion requires that the teachings of its messiah or its prophet should be kept alive, the Jaina Acaryas Upadhyayas and Sadhus would answer the requirement both individually and collectively. If again the essentiality of a rational religion consists in a form of God-consciousness in which God does not appear as a being foreign to the nature of man, but a being who by continuous selfculture and self-development has finally realised the capacities of spiritual perfection inherent in him, then the Siddha as conceived by the Jainas would exactly be the God of such a rational religion."
Translated into English by the Author from a talk delivered by him in Hindi at Jain Bhawan, Calcutta, during the Paryusan Festival.
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