Immortality and Joy

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 7

mirvana. It is this method which is known as Jainism, and the images that are installed in our temples are the statues of 'photos' of the greatest amongst those who have already reached nirvana and taught others the way to get there. They are called Tirthamkaras, Literally, the makers or founders of a tirtha, a fordable channel or passage (across the ocean of births and deaths. )
How did they cross the sea of samsara themselves ? By curbing their fieshly lusts and by purifying and perfecting their souls. We too, have got to tread the path they trod, if we would attain to the heights they have attained. In a word, the Tirihamkaras are models of perfection for our souls to copy and to walk in the footsteps of. Their images are kept in the temples to constantly remind us of our high ideal, and to inspire us with faith and confidence in our own souls. As for Their worship, They have no desire to be worshipped by us; Their perfection is immeasurably greaten than we can praise; They are full and perfect in Their woleness. We offer Them the devotion of our hearts, because in the initial stages of the journey'it is the most potent, if not the only means of making steady progress.
Itis not mere hero-worship, though worship of a hero is transcendent admiration. As Carlyle put it, it is something more; we admire what we ourselves aspire to attain to.