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BOOK REVIEW:
I AM THE SOUL!
BY: SNEHAL SHAH
AUTHOR: DR. TARULATABAI MAHASATIJI (WRITTEN IN GUJARATI)
1?WNO AN
MOANI?
ter D
yr Poraba Mole
UN
The translator: Not known of his pure thought process and his extraordinary com- done under the auspices of mand over words. Research Foundation of
Today people are spiritually ignorant and are mired in Jainology - Chennai.
materialism, ritualism and dogmatism. He has narrated This is a compilation of a nature of a person in search of the Self (Atmarthi) and series of discourses rendered also that of a person who is dogmatic (Matarthi). He has by the venerable Dr. Tarulata laid out path of liberation and importance of a noble preMahasatiji, a nun in the order ceptor (Guru) for spiritual upliftment. of Jains, at Madras, now
In Atmasiddhi the theme is, a disciple in search of the Chennai during 1986
Self, is in a quandary as to which path to follow, and enChaturmas (four months in I AM THE SOULIN
gages his Guru in a dialogue, through which all the doubts monsoon)
in his mind are clarified. Guru elucidates the entire proA natural, gifted orator, cess of identifying the Self, preparation for the journey on
Mahasatiji's discourses, origi- the path of spirituality and ultimately the Method of Self nally in Gujarati, caught the fancy of everyone who heard Realization. and were immensely popular and hence were brought into
Self-realization implies that there is a SELF (ATMA) print, first in Gujarati, later in Hindi and now in English.
which is unrealized and which can and ought to be realized. The series is based on the 'Atmasiddhi Shaastra' Without self-realization soul/atma suffers from eternal penned over a hundred years by Shrimad Rajchandra, a unhappiness. Atma is unrealized means, it is hampered great enlightened soul, at the young age of 29. The sub- and deluded by Karmas which it does and experiences ject here is the Soul. In this work a Soul is defined and a the fruits of it's doing. The doing is by choice; the course of its liberation is outlined according to the Jain experiencing is by compulsion. The realization of the Soul principles. Mahasatiji obtained a doctorate in Philosophy is Liberation. It is possible there are means of it, and it is from the Mumbai University on her thesis that covered one's duty to try to realize it. Thus we get the following 6 the literature of Shrimad Rajchandra, Shri Anandghanji, propositions:Shri Banarasidas and the Sant Kabir.
1. The Soul exists. A detailed and exhaustive commentary on the
2. The Soul is eternal. Atmasiddhi Shaastra. The book is about 800 pages divided in two volumes published by Sri Gujarati Swetambar 3. The Soul is the doer of Actions (Karmas) Sthanakwasi Jain Association, Chennai in concert with
4. The Soul is the sufferer of the fruit of its own Karmas. Research Foundation for Jainology, Chennai. This is the first English publication sold by the JAINA Book Store for 5. There is liberation. $25.00 per set including shipping.
6. There are means of liberation. The first volume includes Gathas 1 to 58 and the second volume is Gathas 59 through 142.
The translation from Gujarati into English is very
readable and it appears that they had considered Atmasiddhi Shaastra consists of 142 Gathas compiled international market for this work. by Shrimadji in just an hour and a half, without one letter being scratched, altered or revised). The work is a poof
18/JAIN DIGEST. Summer 2003 Jain Education Interational 2010_03
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