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आ. शांतिसागरजी जन्मशताब्दि स्मृतिग्रंथ the vow of Sallekhana ( Adar) at Kunthalagiri prior to his Niryana, I was lying seriously ill at Karwar. My mind was yearning for his last Darshan but my bodily ailment was too serious to permit a long journey.
Looking back over the last forty-five years, I have realised how this great saint of ours brought new light into my life and through me into my family and showed us the way to a meaningful life of piety and brotherhood.
I am glad that I have this opportunity of declaring this Shantisagar Maharaj Pravachan Mandir open. It stands as a monument for one who showed the way to purity of life to millions in the country. His was a life that was an embodiment of the three jewels of Jainism. He showed both by precept and example that self-knowledge, self-reverence and self-control shall alone lead man to sovereign power, paving the way for self-realization.
Most of us do not think of religion seriously. We say that we have no time for it.' What a great blunder we are committing ? Religion is within us and with us. We must open our eyes and our heart and see how affectionately it becons us to a life of peace and happiness. We all need religion because we want to be good citizens, affectionate members of the family and loving neighbours in our village or town. All that is required of us, is that, we should snatch a few moments of the day or night and think how blessed we are for inheriting a philosophy that lifts us up with least exertion only if we have the will to be guided by it.
May this Pravachan Mandir remind us of the great religious tenets that Shri Shantisagar Maharaj preached and practised in his life and kept the torch burning in order that others might light their humble lamps to drive away the darkness from their own nooks and corners. May the sages will expound the principles of this universal religion from the platform of this Mandir wake us and the generations to come, to a life which shall be guided by the united flood-light of the three jewels; right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.
May I thank the Organizers for the opportunity afforded to me to pay my humble tribute to the great saint and you, ladies and gentlemen, for your patient hearing ?'
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