Jainism Not an Atheisam

Author(s): Herbert Warren
Publisher: Herbert Warren

Page 28

( 24 ) THE JAINA SCRIPTURE GIFT SERIES.
FOREWARD. All gifts are really debts discharged. We are born in the world. The world gives us life, beauty and . joy. Our State, our community, our family, our friends all make life liveable and profitable for us. We are indebted to them all. Patriotism, Philanthropy and Humanity are some of the ways, in which this indebtedness is discharged.
Of all kinds of gifts four are the most praise-worthy and meritorious. Gift of medicine to cure disease, of fearlessness to induce peace of mind, of food to nourish the body and of knowledge to enlighten and to invigorate the Soul. This last is pre-eminently an universal gift. Knowledge as identical with Truth, is the most glorious possession of all. Like the light of the stars, like the ozone-laden breezes from the envelope of air, like the ever-roaring waters of the unfathomable seas, the deathless immensity of Truth is unowned be any although enjoyed by some. These are the Tirthankaras of the Jainas, whose intense concentration and pointed resolve to pierce the very core of things, unlocked the fair bosom of Truth and saw the Light of the Universe, which has been and shall ever, remain the solace and inspiration of our suffering sisters and brethren. The Vision Beatific percolated from the Tirthankaras, through the divine Wordless Speech, to the Ganadharas, their great Apostles. The Ganadharas and their disciples, the Acharyas, strung the pearls of Wisdom into Sutras and digested them into books. These are the Sacred Books of the Jainas, the beacon-lights of TRUTH, in the stormy seas of ignorance.