Jainism by Vividus

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

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want of time I was hardly able to do any justice to the conversation once opened. In the past years, I never intended to write a separate book in English on Jainism. I had already published one in my mother-tongue in 1936. My association as a member with the Rosicrucian Order, the Theosophical Society, and the Sri Aurobindo Society and my outward journeys to several religious congregations all over the world interested me more in the comparative study of all religious thoughts. Maybe, in an attempt thus to search my soul as it were, this inner journey of going back to my religion of birth is only a step in the right direction. I believe that by this publication, my debt to thousands of my friends and colleagues in this field will be, to some extent, discharged.
In Toronto, Canada the Jaina Society is registered as a Public Body and I often saw its members gathering for celebration of Jaina holy days and other religious festivals. Maybe, if this publication on Jainism enlightens them on what they do and for which principles and line of thought they stand, they will be able to bring more meaning and enthusiasm to their activities which today appear often only traditional and therefore of not much interest to those among them who consider themselves rather naively progressive.
my own
In preparing this book, I have referred freely to publication in my mother-tongue, besides taking recourse to several later, recent scholarly publications-books and periodicals in the English language such as 1 could lay my hands on while being out of India for nearly twenty years. No one is so outstanding of whom, I could make here a particular reference, though in general I, in all humility, wish to acknowledge their debt in providing me with proper and near-appropriate words to express in English.
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