________________
Atmānuśāsana
आत्मानुशासन
Your behind-the-scenes effort in getting the Divine Blessings of Acarya Vidyananda is the result of your deep devotion to the Scripture. I bow to you, Acārya Śrutasāgara. Bless me so that I am able to attain selfknowledge, the supreme light within that destroys the darkness of ignorance.
Dr. Chakravarthi Nainar Devakumar - my trusted advisor
Dr. Chakravarthi Nainar Devakumar is a dedicated scholar of the Jaina Doctrine. For many years now, he is engaged in the study (svadhyāya) of the Holy Scripture - an internal-austerity (abhyantara tapa). Acarya Umāsvāmī, in Tattvärthasutra, has delineated five subdivisions of svādhyāya:
वाचनापृच्छनानुप्रेक्षाऽम्नायधर्मोपदेशाः ॥९-२५॥
The five subdivisions of study - svadhyaya - are: teaching - vacanā, questioning - prcchană, reflection - anuprekṣā, recitation - amnāya, and preaching - dharmopadeśa.
Vācană consists in teaching of the Scripture - words or meanings or both - with precision. Putting questions to others with the object of clearing doubts or strengthening one's knowledge is prcchană. Contemplation on the knowledge acquired is anuprekṣā. Āmnāya is repeating the text again and again with correct pronunciation. Dharmopadeśa is narrating moral stories, etc., for the benefit of suitable recipients. Dr. Devakumar is engaged in all of these, in letter and in spirit.
Proficient in Sanskrit as well as English, besides, of course, Tamil, Dr. Devakumar proofread the present work with devotion and dedication. He highlighted major flaws, including typos, infelicities and inaccuracies, attributable to my negligence, ignorance and inadequacy. If this work is more or less free from errors, the credit must go to him.
My sincere thanks to Dr. Devakumar also for accepting to write the Foreword; it has added to the glory and scholarship of this sacred-text.
(XLII)
