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निवेदन
श्री महावीर स्वामी पर कई ग्रन्थ लिखे गये। अत: कुछ लोगों ने यह प्रश्न किया कि बार बार उनका चरित्र लिख कर छापने की क्या आळ्यकता है ? इसका समाधान यह दिया जा सकता है कि कल भोजन तो किया है न, तो आज नहीं किया ? कल कपडे पहने हैं न, तो आज क्या पहनना छोड़ा ? किया हुआ संसार क्या फिर नहीं करते ? तो परम पावन, पवित्र मूर्ति, ज्ञान की प्रतीका श्रमण भगवान महावीर स्वामी को कितनी ही बार ध्यान में लाओ, कितना ही उनके बारे में पढो, और सुनो वह सब थोड़ा ही है। इसी से पुनः पुनः
सत्य जन्मानहः शरणम प्रपद्यामि । रत्नत्रयस्य शरणम प्रपद्यामि ।
एम. सुब्बा राव
PREFACE
One may ask 'why another book on Lord Mahavira yet? we have already had enough of such books'. One may be justified in asking thus. However, on second thoughts such a question deteriorates into a stock one. When a writer takes it into his head to write on a noble topic or about a great man, the motive is always lit up by a germ, a flash of an idea to explain the topic from a novel point of view. The novelty consists in the perception and in the presentation. Apart from that, there is no end to the telling and the retelling of a great man's life just as there is no end to the singing and the re-singing of a melodious song by singers in newer and newer tones and tunes. Do we stop our daily rounds of taking in food and drink again and again? Do we not feel the return of hunger and thirst? The pangs of spiritual hunger take an individual interpreter, as well as an avid reader, to a great topic. It is thus a person returns again and again to the same quest. The effort may be modest, but the intention is sincere. Faith and reverence are essential for the enjoyment of this work. So skeptical logic is a rank outsider.
Sathya Jan Manaha Saranam Prapathyami · Ratnathrapasya Saranam Prapathyami
M. Subba Rao
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