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Shri Atmaramji and his many-sided activities
Puj Amarsingh of Amritsar, the then head of the Sthanakvasi sect in the Punjab, heard of these pro-" Murti Puja" activities of Atmaramji and asked him to refrain from this attitude under threat of expulsion from his order of monks. Atmaramji paid no heed to this threat and re-doubled his activities. This led to his expulsion from the order being circulated, which meant that he was deprived of his food and shelter wherever he went in the Sthanakvasi community. But he had an unflinching spirit and never swerved an inch from what he believed to be the truth. He gladly faced all the privacies and hardships. He succeeded in attaining his goal through patience and perseverance.
The next step for Atmaramji was to secure the necessary idols and to raise funds for erection of temples. Through his unexamplary character, hard discipline and sacrifice Atmaramji captivated the heart of Jains. The initial difficulty lay in bringing home to the community that "Murti Puja" was in exact accordance with the Jain Shastras and when this had been overcome there remained little to achieve. There was plenty of money with the community and in the course of a few years several magnificient temples were erected in various towns of the Punjab. He succeeded in securing plenty choice images from Palitana and Ahmedabad for installation in the newly built temples in the Punjab. Thus it was through his efforts that "Murti Puja " remained in tact as a means for self-realisation.
(B) Attention to old temples that stood in need of repairs.
During his tours Atmaramji came across several temples which stood badly in need of repairs. Through his efforts Temple Repair Fund " was created in several places to meet the expenditure of carrying out these repairs.
(C) Collection, Preservation and Distribution of Sacred Literature.
Perhaps the greatest service that Atmaramji did in the domain of religion was the preservation of Jain sacred literature. During the time of Mohamadan invasion, sacred books were stored under-ground for fear of destruction at the hand of the invaders. Although those days of religious fanaticism and terror had long gone, the community altogether lost sight of this spiritual wealth with the result that most of the .: 98:
[Shree Atmaramji
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