Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 11

practical point of view, he asserts, samyak darśana means having faith in saddeva, i.e. the arhat or Jina, sadguru and saddharma, i.e. the preaching of right conduct by a Jina or a monk. Here Śrīmad identifies dharma with satśāstra.
There are only a few pages in the volume, śrīmad Rājacandra, which illustrate śrīmad's thinking during this period
in greater detail. At the age of 18 śrīmad composed a small work called Bhāvanābodha which deals with the 12 anupreksās or bhāvanās, i.e. reflections on topics such as anitya (impermanence), ašarana (helplessness), samsāra (cycle of transmigration), bodhi durlabha (difficulty of enlightenment), or dharma durlabha, which here refers to the sadguru and his preaching. The work seems to be incomplete. In one of the statements included under the heading Vacanāmsta, a text that was written in the 20th year of his life, śrīmad defines dharma as the sadguru's conduct as well as his preaching. Similary, he contends that a sadguru's silence as reflected in the stillness on his face is itself a form of teaching. In the same year śrīmad made one of the most important declarations of his life. In a letter addressed to Mr. Catrabhuja Becara, he writes:
I am the second Mahāvīra. This I have realized through the power of my soul. ... I am omniscient, full of detachment. I am going to establish the supreme religion by following Mahāvīra. ... I have prepared disciples and a moral code of conduct for them. ... For propagating this religion I would renounce the world and make my disciples omniscient.
In the 22nd year of his life, śrīmad's ideas gained full maturity. This is reflected in his interpretation of the concept of the sadguru. He wrote:
In this world a soul has never before developed devotion (bhakti) towards satparamātmā; it never had an