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Mälj
AW
( By B. M. Javeria M. A., LL.B., Gujranwala )
'Man is heaven-born, not the thrall of circumstances and of necessities, but the victorious subduer; behold! how he can become the Announcer of himself and of his freedom.
Carlyle.
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Of all the concepts of human knowledge, that of religion presents perhaps the greatest difficulty, in the way of clear and definite formulation. Aesthetics, Ethics, Logic, Metaphysics, not to speak of physical sciences, deal with the subjects, which can be easily understood. We may differ in various ways. but as far as the subject matter, in each of these sciences, is concerned, our minds are absolutely clear. We know, at least, what we are talking about. It is, however, not so with religion.
But the Jain religion aims at opening the understanding, and can be very easily comprehended even by a layman. Jainism means the religion of Jina. The word Jina means Conqueror. The conqueror here meant, is not the conqueror of any fort, kingdom or dominion but the conqueror of the enemies of the soul, namely passions. Therefore a Jina is one who has conquered the enemies of the soul and has realised God in himself. Thus Jainism shows us the path to obtain salvation through self-purification. This growing ideal, this operative principle is the key-note of this religion. Shatabdi Granth ]
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