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142 living to him. Such is the supremacy of nescience and delusion. The person equipped with spiritual out-look tries to look in'. He is in a position to have a taste of genuine peace for the abode of peace is not in the outer world of senses. Even the Jain idol, which represents the ideal of introspective mood and which is devoid of all sorts of physical covering or ornamentation gives peace and joy to the troubled mind.
This point becomes clear when a man of any religious denomination or without religion beholds the Jain monolithic colossus of Lord Gommatesh. vara 57 feet high in the standing posture at Sravanbelgola in the vicinity of Mysore. A Kannada poet Boppana explains, what the silent sentinel appears to be speaking, "Why in vain do you make yourself wander in the forest of births by foolishly mistaking the various dying deities of the land for gods ? Think on Gommatadeva, who is of the form of the supreme soul, and you will get rid of birth, old age and other sorrows. No man shall take pleasure in killing, lying, stealing, adultery and covetousness, if he does, he will lose for ever this world and the next. Lo, Gommatadeva looks as if proclaiming this standing on high” ( Inscriptions of Sravanbela gala dated 1080 A. D. pp. 98,99 ). In the presence of this idol of ideal peace and joy one gets the answer to the question : whither peace ? Such representations in the form of aude Jain idols of pure and perfect souls are found in every Jain temple.
