________________
82
THE JAINA GAZETTE A cursory glance alone at the annual reports of the Progress of Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj of Bengal would be a proof positive to convince us of the fact that their spirit of active and energetic organisation alone is responsible for their astounding progress. They have not only added thousands of converts to their religion, have not only regained the lost power and prestige of their forefathers, have not only made their power felt by the Government and the Christian Church, have not only stretched their influence throughout the length and breadth of India, but have also, above all, extended the sphere of their activities throughout the world. Their missionaries are doing useful work in China, Japan, U. S. A., Great Britain, Germany and France. All this huge progress seems wonderful to the passive, silent, and unpracticable admirer; but this success has been achieved only in a short space of time with their spirit of cooperation, and active organisation.
To speak of Jainism as not worthy of our attention is blasphemous, and to call it time-worn religion is to commit a grievous blunder. Jainism is one of the oldest religions of the world. It has by virtue of its truth, successfully withstood the tests of time and space, of persecution and the like. But now we are sadly realising that in spite of its strong vitality our number is daily dwindling and decaying. If this state of affairs is allowed to continue unchecked, the time is not far off when Jainism would be only a name of the past. That which will remain of us would be only a sad history of our past heroic and glorious deeds engraved indelibly on the past flying page of time. By our own avoidable carelessness the religion once so high would come to a premature end. The posterity would discern the white crystal of truth within the fold of Jainism, but it would remember us sadly because of our having willingly allowed the limpid stream of pure, truth to be lost in the maze of oblivion.
Our second drawback is the lack of adequate facilities for the pursuit of religious studies. Our children seem to be
ignorant of even the rudiments of the religion to which they Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
