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vi First Steps to Jainism
uninitiated reader. Further a mere collection and presentation of facts, without relating them to context and without indicating their place in the system, leaves the reader confused with a hazy and superficial knowledge of Jainism, where grain is mixed with chaff.
6. We have, therefore, attempted to describe all the important aspects of Jainism in simple language in brief self-contained chapters, to provide elementary knowledge of the principles of Jainism. Since the chapters are selfcontained, some items may have been repeated. The compilation has, therefore, been called First Steps to Jainism, each chapter being called a step. Care has been taken to avoid the shortcomings mentioned above, so as to satisfy rational enquiries about the Jain view of life and to encourage further studies in Jain set of beliefs and Jain way of life.
7. The plan of this effort is to cover the significant features of Jainism-the metaphysical, ethical, theological, philosophical-in two parts. First one, dealing with the preliminary and essential features, is before you. This first part begins with Groundwork-the first chapter, which as the name suggests-prepares the ground for the study by giying a general idea for introducing the subject of Jain religion to familiarize the reader. It gives a bird's eyeview of Jain tradition, its main tenets and teachings.
8. The subsequent five chapters called five steps deal with the following aspects
(i) Step One-Universe-The Six substances (the Dravya) This chapter
contains a brief description of the universe and its constituents according to Jain metaphysics. The subject has been of considerable interest to all humanity in all ages, and we propose to deal with this initially and show the simple and logical approach of Jainism to the subject of the Universe and its dimensions in time and space. The main constituents of the beginningless universe according to Jainism, i.e., (1) the living beings, (2) time, (3) space, (4) medium of motion, (5) medium of rest and (6) matter are dealt with in this chapter. Attempt has been made to exhibit that this Universe is a sort of stage on which the living beings (the souls)
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