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I said to them, "You wish build a new temple. That is fine. But how would you accomodate these divine waves?"
When I happen to go to an ancient place housing rich legacies of the past e.g. a place such as Vanod (near Sankheshwar tirth), I would definitely wish to spend some time in the presence of Acharya Shri Shilgunsuriji even when I was staying at some other monastery. It is indeed a pleasure to sit in that monastery with its tile-clad roof resting on wooden pillars and to relate oneself to the past.
I do not know why, but I do like places that have an atmosphere of the past.... An invisible end of an unknown past as if reaches out for us there. Mystery does have a charm of its own.
The underground cellar in a temple.... the thick darkness engulfing the cellar... the flickering lamp with ghee made from cow-milk in the pot... we are in an etherial atmosphere. The experience of centuries form the basis of the charm of these architectures.
Intricately designed silver lamp-stands in the sanctum sanctorum, beautiful brass lamps, the chandeliars and hanging lamps in the pendal, wall-paintings, beautiful brassdoors with frames etc. do take us in a totally different world.
I have looked at the temples at Khambhat and Radhanpur to my hearts content. The paintings in gold on marble in the temples of Shri Chintamani Parshwanath and Shri Adinath... What a supreme embodiment of emotions !.. The paintings in gold on the embossed ceiling of Shri Shantinath in Bhani Pole and the temple in Akhi Doshini Pole... all these were so bewitching indeed! I can still feel the thrill of their first powerful impact, when I close my eyes. For I have spent good long time at Radhanpur. In this town again, there used to be a huge wooden Samavasaran in the temple of Ajitnath in Bhonyara Sheri.. what exquisite pieces of art we had in our temples!....
Shri Vasudeo Smart needs neither detailed introduction nor laudalory epithets. It is a matter of great joy for us that we have been able to get some of his valuable work in the form of this collection.
Learned Acharya Shri Shilchandrasuriji has been a source of great inspiration behind this project. It has also benefited form the esthetic insight of Shri Sevantibhai Mehta. Archer's commendable printing has brought it to a perfect realization.
Kartik sud 1, Vikram Samvat 2058, Palanpur.
6 Jain Kashthapat Chitra
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