Jaina Gazette 1927

Author(s): J L Jaini, Ajitprasad
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office

Page 84

CONCENTRATION
49
room with these thoughts, and every day we shall find some help even by going to this room. That is the reason why many men meet in a certain place to perform this work, because the force of many is stronger than that of one; and when this has been done for a long time the place becomes saturated with pure thoughts and there is a magnetism generated that has an effect on people, and if you go there you will receive help from those places, because the magnetism has its effect for good. There are sacred hills of cf the Jains which have this influence, and even foreigners feel it. In 1885 the Governor of Bombay, a Scotch gentleman and a member of the nobility of England, Lord Reay paid a visit to a sacred hill* of the Jains, a mountain where there are hundreds and thousands of temples. This gentleman had never visited any sacred place of the Hindus, and as the Secretary of the Jain Society of India, I requested him to visit that place, which is three hundred miles from the city. Several of the Jains of Bombay accompanied him, and there were speeches made about his character, his work, and so on, for he had assisted us in many religious matters, and therefore it was our duty to treat him with attention. He said that he had never known what effect such a sacred place would produce on his mind, but his experience at that place had shown him that such places had some influence. The sacredness of the place produced on him a wonderful effect, and he even went to the extent of saying that in his past life he must have been connected with the Jain community because he was born in the North of Scotland, where the people take great care of animals, which is also a characteristic of the Jains.
This, coming from a man like Lord Reay must certainly carry weight. When he, a foreigner, admits that there is something mysterious about these places, it surely shows that he must have felt it himself: All objects emit certain kinds of aura which have their peculiar colors, as has been proved by science, and there is no doubt that this sacred place is indeed a very wonderful place. Even in these days people being taken there unknowingly, have felt the influence, unless they were altogether gross. This means
Shatrunjaya Hill near Palitana, Ed. J. G.
7