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CHAPTER I
33
tion
Siddha is described as asarir, without a body, arupa, not perceivable, and so on, whereas the Tirthankara or Arhat Parameshti has still a body even after attaining Omniscience or Kevala Jñana It is with the help of this body that He is able to preach the dharma (Truth) to the people, because His main function is dharma-prabhavana or proclaiming the Dharma His worshippers both human and divine praise His body in their adoraThe adoration of an Arhat consists in the enunciation of the marvellous characteristics of His body-such as its beauty and excellence, its freedom from natural impurities and defects, and that it is the cynosure of attraction and grace, that it is the fountain source of peace and harmony, that it is the physical embodiment of the eternal values of Truth, Goodness and Beauty The term Acharya implies the master of a Sangha who in his turn transmits the divine message to his disciples and through them to the whole world It is not necessary to emphasise the fact that in his case also adoration very often implies praising the beauty of his body as the embodiment of a great
soul
The bewildered and the doubting disciple naturally asks his master "If the soul is of supreme importance and if the body being achetana is without any spiritual grace and hence to be discarded as worthless, how can we justify the various songs of devotion of Arhanta and Acharya, songs which are but the praise of their physical beauty and grace If the songs in adoration are valid, would it not be proper to infer that after all, the soul and the body are not so fundamentally different ?"
The author clears the doubt expressed above by explaining the doctrine of naya or points of view
ववहारणओ भासदि जीवो देहो य हवदि खलु एक्को ।
E
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og forgutu flat àsì a neıfa gançoì 11|2011 Vavaharanayo bhāsadi jîvo dehō ya havudı khalu ekko Na du nichchhayassa jîvo deho ya kadavi ekkattho व्यवहारनयो भाषते जीवो देहश्च भवति खल्वेक । न तु निश्चयस्य जीवो देहरच कदाप्येकार्थं ॥२७॥ The Vyavahara point of view indeed declares that body
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