________________
PREFACE
These essays evolved as an attempt to understand the practices and philosophy of Jainism. The goal of the followers of any religion is to achieve the ultimate state as defined by their religion. For example, for a Christian or a Muslim, it is to go to heaven, for a Hindu to merge with the Supreme Brahman and for a Jain to attain moksha. Each religion has its own practices and philosophy rooted in a time and place of its origin and/or development to achieve that ultimate state. However, natural process of change along with changes in language and human understanding can leave many aspects of religion incomprehensible. Then it becomes a dogma and repeated from generation to generation. Any attempt to seek new interpretation is assiduously rejected in the name of the authority of the scriptures. These articles take a fresh look at old concepts from a non-traditional point of view. They were written to help me understand some of these practices and philosophical points. Slightly different versions of two of these articles also appeared in the Jain Digest, a publication of Federation of Jain Associations in North America (JAINA).
I would like to thank the members of Jain Study Center of North Carolina, Raleigh NC for rekindling my interest in Jainism and providing a forum for interesting discussions. In particular, to Dr. Sampat Jain and Mr. Pravinbhai Shah for many discussions in last four years over various aspects of Jainism, and Mrs. Sumitra Jain for setting an example by practice of varshitap that led to the writing of the first article on upvaas.
May 14, 2007 Danville, VA
Mukesh Chhajer
