Book Title: Jaina Philosophy
Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation

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Page 246
________________ N ORDEA India's Message to America worship all perfected souls; I worship all spiritual masters- I worship all spiritual instructors : I worship all holy men and women in the world.” You will say my Christian brothers and sisters that this act of homage and worship should be directed to the Supreme Being only, whom you call God; but you also worship the name of Christ, and who he is if he be not a manifestation and accommodation of element, especially-Love that is the worshipful in the divine being. And in the recognition and devout worship of that same manifestation which is the cause of our conquests and of all perfected lives, do not we bring ourselves into closer relations, and is not, therefore our worship truer and worthier to be accepted. And this also is the universal worship, the tribute that; all life makes in spontaneous gratitude and devotion to the Infinite. In this act of worship we are in fellowship with all living things and with all living beings. This worship may have no voice, no particular ceremony and no outward expression cognizable to the senses, but it must be and it is, the prostration of the soul before the Supreme in adoration, and in the conformity of love, the lesson of life. In all nature, animate and inanimate, of all graces and forms and expressions from the spire of grass protecting the lowly violet in the vale, to the songs of birds which rise on graceful wings in the pulsing atmosphere, whose pulsations are notes of worship, to the stately forest, bending under the pressure and expanding in the light of nature's growth, up to the vaulted heavens "singing as they shine, the hand that made us is divine," and still up into the higher sentient life, the souls of men, and still up to the perfect life – to the dwellers and realizers of the perfect bliss - through all the same spirit inspires and leads, and makes the worship one. This is the true idea of Hindu worship. How do you like it? Does it not touch the cord of sympathy and acceptance in your heart? My American brothers and sisters, it is not a propagandism 237 Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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