Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

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

Page 41

hall at the śrīmad Rājacandra Aśram at Agās in Gujarāt. My guide informed me that the enlargement was made in Paris by re-photographing the original. The paper of the enlargement is now so fragile it cannot be removed from the frame. Copies in current circulation have been made by re-photographing this enlargement. Both photographs are distributed from the Agās Aśram. Copies of these two photographs are widely available throughout the community of śrīmad's followers in a range of sizes and formats, from small laminated 'purse-size' copies to large framed portraits hanging in temples. Dedicated temples and prayer halls display either one or both of these two photographs. Households are likely to have a domestic shrine (often consecrated by a guru) which includes a photograph of śrīmad, ranging from a simple framed photograph, to an enlargement with an ornate 'templesque' marble surround.
When the āśram at Agās was built, a statue of Srimad was commissioned. The presence of a statue in addition to photographs is becoming increasingly normative within the devotional communities. Statues are generally crafted in marble, but in some cases images have been cast from an alloy of five metals to give them a golden appearance. At the highest point of the āśram at Agās stands a glorious, life size, 'golden' image of śrīmad, a similar image is also found at the highest point of the āśram at Uttara Sandā.
Images of Srimad, both statues and photographs, are not only memorials to the historical person they represent, they are also tools used by disciples during their religious practise. By finally allowing his photograph to be taken we can assume that śrīmad consented to the use of his physical form as an object of worship. Devotees perform bhakti and meditate before images of śrīmad. They believe that he achieved samyak darśana, so they worship his image in the hope that this religious practise will assist them towards reaching a similar state of self-realisation. In this way, his form has become a device, or tool, in the soteriological process of his followers.
Of course, followers also show devotion toward śrīmad because they love him as their guru. Ārati , a lamp waving ceremony, is sometimes performed before images of Srimad. At
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