________________
THE JAINA GAZETTE
VOL. XXIII. No. 3.
{
MADRAS MARCH 1927.
WHOLE No. 261.
IMAGE WORSHIP AND PILGRIMAGE.
IMAGE worship is a great help for beginners: who can see what
the Arhant is like; and for advanced persons who are reminded of what their mind, when attentive, knows the Arhant to be like. In the last case Images stimulate and arouse the Smriti or Sanjna i.e., remembrance or recognition of the form of Arhant. When the last Arhant passed away, and His devotees made an image of Him, that Image would mean very much more to them than to us. Even old geographers consult maps often although they know the forms and even some details of the countries etc. in the map. The knowledge which is of the map in the mind is less vivid than the ocular knowledge when the eye has the map itself actually before it. Thus Images are not useless. The highest Adorable in the Universe, next to Siddha, is Arhant. Images bring us into a more visible proximity to Arhant than any. thing else; specially when they are exactly like the Arhant and designed and executed artistically. Thus they are also adorable. All this is apart from the fact of Sthapana, or our installing the qualities of Arhant in them.
There is a peculiar penetrating calm in places of worship, specially in places of pilgrimage. This is not due merely to scenic, sylvan surroundings. Simla, Nainital and Mussoorie send thrills of joy, grandeur and sublimity but never of this calm. Nor
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Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
