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Guru, despite his young age. One such was Sowbhagyabhai, at whose instance Srimad penned the 'Atmasiddhi Shastra' of 142 verses, when he was only twenty-nine. Yet, the fact that the 142 verses in which the essence of Jain principles has been presented in a cryptic manner, were compiled in just an hour and a half. without one letter being scratched, altered or revised, only goes to prove that this was truly a work of inspiration.
Srimadji has taken a plot where a disciple in search of the Self, is in a quandary as to which path to follow for attaining his goal. The disciple engages his Guru in a dialogue, through which all the doubts in his mind are clarified. The sincerity of purpose which the disciple expresses in so many words, draws the compassion of the Guru, who elucidates the entire process of identifying the Self, preparation for the journey on the path of spirituality and ultimately the method of Self Realisation. The disciple is overwhelmed with the compassion of the Guru and expresses his gratitude profusely.
The entire dialogue is interspersed with comments from Srimadji, also presented in gathas, who closes the Shastra with 14 gathas of summarisation.
Mahasatiji has shown us how to unravel the mysteries hidden in the cryptic gathas. In doing so, she has drawn upon her vast knowledge of Jain scriptures and devotional compositions, and the rich Indian heritage of philosophy and metaphysics. One also notices her concern over the erosion of values in modern life and the fast diminishing richness of our culture.
Every chapter in the book (which had been a day in the original series of discourses) begins with a reference to the threefold path of liberation, namely Samyag Darshan, Samyag Jnana and Samyag Charitra. Mahasatiji, in a very astute way builds in a lead to the content of each chapter, in this opening paragraph itself.
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