Sramana 2005 07 10

SR No.: 525056
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2005
Total Pages: 226
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 11 MB

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the Brahmanical and Śramanical saints are remembered as Arhat Rși and their teachings are regarded as an Agama. Haribhadra - Jaina saint of eighth century AD was a staunch preacher of religious tolerance. In his works Sastravärtāsamuccaya and Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya, he has elaborately illustrated this liberal outlook.
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In the Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya, he remarks that the ultimate truth transcends all states of worldly existence, called nirvāņa and is essentially and necessarily "single" even if it be designated by different names, like Sadāśiva, Parabrahman, Siddhātmā, Tathāgata etc. Not only in the general sense but etymologically also they convey the same meaning. In Lokatattvanirṇayahe says 'I venerate all those who are free from all vices and adorned with all virtues, be they Brahma, Viṣṇu, Śiva or Jina.'18 Haribhadra's crusade against sectarianism is unique and admirable in the history of world-religions. This view is further supported by various Jaina thinkers of medieval period such as Akalanka, Yogindu, Mānatunga, Hemacandra and many others. While worshipping Lord Siva, the Jaina pontiff Hemacandra says: "I worship those who have destroyed attachment and aversion which are the seed or birth and death, be they Brahmā, Vişņu, Śiva or Jina." "It is important that though Hemacandra was a Jain-saint, he composed a hymn in praise of Śiva. This liberalism is also maintained by later Hindi or Gujarati Jaina writers like Anandaghana and many others.
Anandaghana, a mystic Jaina saint of the 17th century A.D. remarks that just as ocean includes all the rivers so does Jainism all other faiths. Further, he beautifully expounds that all the six heretic schools are the organs of Jina and one who worships Jina also worship them. A Hindi couplet (20th cent.) reads:
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buddha vīra jina hari hara brahmā ya usako svādhīna kaho/ bhakti bhava se prerita ho, yeha citta usi me līna raho//
Along with these literary evidences there are some epigraphical evidences of religious tolerance of the Jainas. Some Jaina Acaryas such as Rāmakīrti and Jayamangalasuri wrote the hymns in the praise