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It is evident from the contents of the treatise what an enormous contribution the Jaina thinkers have made in the field of Indian psychology. I am sure this work will give a glimpse of the vast material available in the Jaina works on karma and other subjects. I have been very careful in selecting the technical terms. I did not hesitate even in coining some of them, since the present work is, if I may not be accused of vanity, the first of its kind in the field of Jainology.
The credit for the success I could achieve in preparing this volume goes to my revered teachers Dr. Chandra Dhar Sharma, M.A., D.PHIL., D.LITT., LL.B., Sahityācārya, Sahityaratna, of the Department of Philosophy, Banaras Hindu University, in whose loving and scholarly guidance I worked for a considerable period and Pt. Dalsukh Malvania, Lecturer in Jaina Philosophy in the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Banaras Hindu University, from whom I received constant light and unfailing inspiration during the period of the composition of the treatise. I am very much grateful to Dr. Satkar Mookerjee, Dr. Nathmal Tatia, Prof. J. N. Sinha, Dr. Glasenapp, and others whose works I have profusely utilized in preparing the present work. My thanks are also due to the author of the Foreword, Dr. M. V. Govindaswamy, Director, All-India Institute of Mental Health, Bangalore. I cannot find suitable language to express my deep gratefulness and sincere indebtedness to the authorities of the Parshvanath Vidyashrama and especially to Lala Harjas Rai Jain, Secretary of the institution, who gave me all encouragement including scholarships and fellowships for the prosecution of my studies of Jaina philosophy at Banaras for a continuous period of ten years.
S.M.K. COLLEGE
Jodhpur
15th November 1956
MOHAN LAL MEHTA
