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Sagarmal Jain: Human Solidarity And Jainism
Upādhyāya Yasovijaya, a famous Jaina Ācārya of 17th cent. A.D. mentions, “A true non-absolutist does not disdain any faith and he treats all the faiths equally, like a father to his sons, for a nonabsolutist dies not have any prejudice and biased outlook in his mind.14
For the Jainas, the door of liberation is open to all. One who can attain equanimity of mind, according to Haribhardra, will for certain get the emancipation whether he may be a Svetāmbar or a Digambar or a Buddhist or any one else.Is About the means of liberation also they had broad-minded outlook. They were not of this opinion that their mode of worship is the only way of emanicipation. For them, it is not the external mode of worship, but the right attitude and mental purity which makes religious practices fruitful.
We, from the earliest Jaina literature to the age of 20th cent. A.D., come across many references to their religious tolerence. The Sūtrakrtānga mentions those who praise their own faith and possess malice against their opponents will remain confined to the cycle of birth and death.16 In the Isibhāsiyāim, a Jaina text of third century B.C., the Brahmanical and Sramanical saints are remeinbered as arhatsri and their teachings and Sramanical saints are remembered as arhatsri and their teachings are regareded as an Agama.'' Haribhadra, a Jaina saint of eighth century A.D., was a staunch preacher of religious tolerance. In his works Šāstravartasamuccaya and Yogadrstisamuccaya, he has elaborately illustrated this liberal outlook.
In the Yogadysti-samuccaya, he remarks that the ultimate truth transcends all states of wordly existence, called nirvāṇa and is essentially and necessarily “single” even if it be designated by different names, like Sadāśiva, Parabrahman, Siddhātma, Tathāgata etc. 18 Not only in the general sense but etymologically also they convey the
14. 15. 16. og 7.
Adhyātmopanișad, 70 Sambodhasattari, 2 Sūtrakstānga 1/1/2/23 Isibhāsiyāim 1/1
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Yogadrsti samuccaya (Haribhadra) - 129
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