Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): A B Latthe
Publisher: Natha Rangaji

Page 52

An Account of We now take up Image-worship. The Image or the picture is intended to give us a view of the all-knowing beings in their concentrated posture — the high-souled beings who attained Godhood by the slow path along the fourteen Image-wor- Gunasthanas, after throwing off the ship Justi- sensual life for the sake of asceticism. fied. Even now, photos and statues of great men are placed in private houses and public situations in order that they should remind us of their virtues. Images are worshipped with the same object, and the worship is not of the stone or metal of which the images are made but of the virtues they represent. They also teach us vividly what the posture of contemplation with concentration is. The images are either in sitting or erect postures and the postures are called Padmasan or Kayotsarga respectively. The erect image has its feet close to each other, the hand left straight down and the balf-closed eyes pointed to the end of the nose. In the sitting attitude, the eyes are in