Sramana 2005 01

SR No.: 525055
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2005
Total Pages: 280
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 12 MB

Page 167

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In India the search for knowledge is incumbent upon every human being. The most important knowledge is spiritual wisdom, which both enlightens the intellect while it elevates the spirit and fosters good will. In the words of the Dhammapada, “A disciple in training will investigate the well-thought path of virtue, even as an expert garland-maker picks flowers.” And for a Jaina seeker after knowledge, there are three things that occasion sorrow: If there be any subject of which he or she has not heard, and cannot get to hear of it; if he or she hears of it, and cannot get to learn it; if he or she has learned it, and cannot get to carry it out in practice.
All religions distinguish between intellectual study and the apprehension of spiritual knowledge. As an academic programe, our only endeavor here is intellectual study; but this is not to doubt or deny the apprehension of spiritual knowledge. In Jainism, sensory and rational knowledge are indeed valid forms of knowledge, though they are considered indirect. The Tattvārtha-sūtra 1.19-29 states:
Knowledge is of five kinds, namely: sensory knowledge, scriptural knowledge, clairvoyance, telepathy, and omniscience. These five kinds of knowledge are of two types: the first two kinds are indirect knowledge and the remaining three constitute direct knowledge. In sensory knowledge there is only the apprehension of indistinct things. But clairvoyance, telepathy, and omniscience is direct knowledge; it is perceived by the soul in a vivid manner without the intermediary of the senses or the scriptures.
So far your encounter with Jainism has been through books, libraries, and classrooms. Now that has changed. You are in the land of Mahāvīra, and you can see Jainism, you can hear Jainism, you can touch it, taste it, smell it in gardens and groves, in art and architecture, in song and dance, and among people and places. Most importantly - YOU WILL FIND JAINISM IN YOURSELF! Jainism is not alien to life, and all there is to life is in Jainism.
If this project be likened to constructing a building, we the organizers have simply assembled a clumsy heap of bricks and mortar;