Jainism by Vividus

Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

Page 10

yet, That Power which is behind all power and is the source of all power eludes him. Man bas, with all humility, learned at last to accept and respect That of which he is made and That which yet remains both different and separate from him. The prodigal has returned to the systems, more than convinced that the Seers, both in the long-forgotten and the recent unforgotten past, had in fact some truth to tell. Therefore, in preparing for the advent of the new age, be may better pay some heed to this Truth.
In this part of the world, when so much has been written and published about other systems, the system of thought known as Jainism has not received adequate coverage. Strange as it may seem, despite its original and thought-provoking contributions in several fields of speculative and intellectual discussions, Jainism has not been epitomised in any one single book like the Bible of the Christians, Kabala of the Jews, Koran of the Moslems, Zande-Avesta of the Zoroastrians, the Granth Sahib of the Shikhs and the Geeta or Vedas of the large number of Indian loosely and erroneously described as of “Hindu" religion. The need, therefore, for publishing such a volume on Jainism, be it even a small attempt in the form of such a small book of this size, cannot be over-emphasized.
During my stay in Toronto, Canada for over three years and various visits to other parts of Canada, including Vancouver and Victoria in the west and St. John and Halifax in the east; to the United States of America and to the United Kingdom, Europe and Russia, both in private homes and several religious congregations, I was deeply hurt by the revelation that so little was known about Jainism to so great a number of the awakened people. Whenever I happened to mention that I was born a Jaina and that my religion by birth was Jainism, I hardly came across a soul who did not ask me what it was. To explain Jainism in such circumstances in the absence of any suitable material on hand was a Herculean task. I confess that for sheer