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Publisher's Note
The divine always had an attraction for and invoked a feeling of wonderment in men of all times and places. All what man aspires for and fails to understand he attributes to divinity. Thus divinity has been described in as many ways as man could think of. As the concept divinity is largely based on individual transcendental experiences and is beyond normal human perception it is almost impossible to envelope it in words. But man has continued to do so since time immemorial. What we know as religions and philosophies are the outcome of the long history of pondering and contemplation and debates over what is Divine and divinity. Dr. Kothari Ajaya Kumar Pukharaj chose to discuss the concept of divinity in Jainism in his doctoral thesis. It is a commendable effort and all the more interesting because before discussing the concept of divinity in Jainism the author explores the same in other popular religions and provides a sort of comparative study.
This book is another one of our series of publications where we bring to our readers useful doctoral thesis that generally languish in universities or the personal collections of authors. We are thankful to Dr. Kothari for entrusting us with the publication of this work. We extend our thanks to Dr. M.R. Gelda and Dr. Mukund Lath for writing the foreword and preface of the book. Thanks are also due to Shri Surendra Bothara for his editorial consultations and Shri Manjul Jain for computer composing and type-setting. We are sure that our readers will find this book immensely interesting.
Director, Prakrit Bharti Academy, Jaipur
Jain Education International
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