Lecture On Jainism

Author(s): Lala Banarasidas
Publisher: Anuvrat Samiti

Page 81

( 73 ) What harm is there in worshipping the naked images of our saviours, the Tirthankaras, for our spiritual good, when we find in them represented the Dhyana of our ideals, and when they serve every morning to remind us of our ideals ?
Gentlemen, I hope this will serve as a sufficient answer to those who ask, why the Jains worship naked images ? Gentlemen, remember, that our images are naked, that our monks are naked, is another proof of our antiquity. Jainism took rise in days when men were children, when they could be naked like pure and innocent children, and when for their nakedness they were loved as we love our children now. There was not yet such a thing as “idea of nakedness."
Gentlemen, now I wind up. Now I have done with
my lecture on Jainism which appears Timling ap.
to me one of the noblest religions in the world. Gentlemen, I am proud that I was born a Jain. Jainism is my pride in life and it will be my salvation in death. I wish there were at least half a dozen Jainisms in this world. I wish every religion might save the slaughter of poor animals, the goats, the sheep, the lamb, the cows, the bullocks, &c., whose necks are' daily cut to provide flesh-eaters with food. I wish every religion might stop the hunting of the poor deer, the poor peacocks, and other beasts and birds. I wish every religion might save animals from being killed on the oc