Saman suttam

Author(s): Jinendra Varni
Publisher: Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan

Page 13

SATISFACTION (Vinoba)
There have been many events of satisfaction in my life. Perhaps, the best of the satisfactions, the final one, came to me at last this year. I had often requested the Jainas that the essence of the Jaina philosophy should be available in the same manner as that of the Vedic religion which was available in the Gita in about seven hundred verses and that of Buddhism in the Dhammapada. This was a difficult task for the Jainas, as they have many traditions and many books. Thus there are the Bible and the Quran, however big in size they might be, they are one. But among the Jainas, there are two: the Svetambaras and the Digambaras, apart from some others. I have been frequently telling all of them that their monks should mee together, discuss and bring about an universally acceptable essence of Jainism for all Jainas. At last, 'a fool' by name Varniji came forward and the views of Baba appealed to him. He is studious, and with great labour, he has also compiled a Dictionary of Jainas technical terms. He published a book entitled Jaina DharmaSara. He printed a thousand copies of the book and sent them to Jaina scholars and also to the scholars outside the community. On the suggestions made by the scholars, he dropped some verses, added some and after doing all that, he published a book "Jina-dhamma". An Assembly was convened on the persistence of Baba in order to hold discussions thereon; monks, acharyas and the other scholars including some house-holders, those participated therein, numbered nearly three hundred. After frequent discussions, they changed its name, form and finally prepared by unanimous consent, a book entitled "Samanasuttam" in Ardhamagadhi took its shape. There are 756 verses. The figure 'seven' is very auspicious for the Jains. If 7 and 108 are multiplied, the result is 756. So many verses were selected by unanimous consent. It was decided that the book should be