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PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
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When you are a child your intelligence is not properly developed with the result that you cannot decide as to what is your exact duty. You while away your entire childhood in sports and plays. Some souls influenced by anti-natal auspicious merits desire to earn religious merits in childhood but then parents dissuade them from doing so saying that they are too young to undergo religious practice. They further preach them to eat, drink and make merry and practise religion on attaining youth. Some blessed soul determines at this stage of childhood to be initiated into monkish order of life and then there is a big uproar, “How can a small child of eight or nine be initiated into monkhood ? One can be initiated only at the age of 18 or 19 after completing education and cherishing the desire to be so initiated". As a result a bill forbidding child-initiation was introduced and passed in Legislative Assembly of Bombay which prohibited such initiation but when State of Baroda merged in Bharat then this law also became null and void. Thereafter, that very bill was introduced by one Mr. Patwari in Legislative Assembly of Bombay. You are quite aware of the great opposition which the said bill had to face. The bill was placed for public opinion and numberless people staunchly recorded their opposition. At last, Bombay Government was advised to drop the bill. Many arguments for and against the bill were set afoot and finally it was decided that it was not advisable to pass any act for child-initiation for the present. Consequently the bill was dropped. The scriptures forbid to initiate a child below 8 as such a child would be incapable to observe and maintain properly monkish discipline. The scriptures further do not forbid initiation of a child above 8 if found deserving. In Jain religious order many persons are initiated in this manner, i.e., in childhood (above the age of eight years). The leading Acharyas mentioned below were initiated in their childhood : Shree Hemchandrasuri, Shree Jinachandrasuri (Kharatara-Gachchha), Shree Devasuri (Shri Mahendrasinha suri (Anchala Gachchha) Shree Soin Prabhasuri, Shree Jinchandra Suri (Kha), Shree Sinha Tilaksuri; Shree Gnanasagar suri, Shri Kulmandan Suri, Shree Jaykirti Suri, Shree Hirvijay Suri, Shree Gnanvimal Suri, Shree Vijay Ratna Suri. These Acharyas being initiated into monkhood practised austere penances and minimized their worldly wanderings.
In Vedic religion too we find Dhurva, Pralhad, Shankaracharya,
