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The Eternal Message of Jaina Wisdom
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all parts of the country bare-footed, keeping minimum equipment required for their spiritual practice. There are some Digambara monks too who remain unclad. Jaina laity still practise complete vegetarianism and mostly lead a life free of vices and intoxicants. At the same time, the Jaina community is richly endowed with education and material comforts. They lead in the field of industry and business and have established a large number of charitable institutions for the cause of education, medical benefits and service to the downtrodden. Heritage of Jaina Scriptures
The teachings of Lord Mahāvīra are preserved in Jaina scriptures, which have come down to us through a very rich tradition. The Tīrtharkaras preached and the Ganadharas gave a structure to those preachings in the Āgamas. The Ācāryas and the saints protected and preserved them. These Āgamas serve as the source of understanding Jaina philosophy and culture and also of Indian thought and way of life at that time. But the Āgamas are vast and voluminous. The commentary literature on the Agamas is also enormous. Hence the need was felt to bring out a compilation in which most important aphorisms from the Agamas are selected and classified under various heads. Such a compilation is expected to be useful in the fast paced and busy world of today and inspire the seekers to study Āgamas in depth. Mahāvira's Preachings
For many years, the Jaina society nurtured the thought that although the preachings of Bhagavāna Mahāvīra have been expressed in the Śvetāmbara Āgamas, they have also been effectively presented in the holy texts of the Digambaras and hence a representative voulme of all his thoughts be compiled and published. Several efforts were made in this direction. In 1968, the Late Upādhyāya Amarmuni, a renowned Jaina saint, published "Sūkti Triveni” in which there were 4,000 aphorisms collected from 50 texts of the Vedic,
Jaina and Buddhist scriptures. The Sarva Seva Sangh, Varanasi, Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
