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Preface
Many illuminated works and teachings of great thinkers and sages of the past have repeatedly told us that we need to be able to distinguish between valuable gems and valueless stones, both of which are scattered along our way. One such valuable gem that I could lay my hands on, about a decade-and-a-half ago, was that amazingly comprehensive yet precise treatise The Key of Knowledge 4, by Shri Champat Rai Jain. The book, first published in 1915, true to its title, has timeless pearls of wisdom in each of its 900-plus pages; one has only to have patience, and develop appreciation and understanding to pick them up. No other work that I know of treats of the great issues that confront humanity with the same simplicity, charm, ease, authority and freedom. As could be expected from a Barrister-at-Law of that era, he was a brilliant grammarian and logician; but more than that, he was a great philosopher. His singlemindedness of purpose has always astounded me, and I salute his noble soul.
Prof. A. Chakravarti (1880-1960), a versatile scholar of Sanskrit, Prākrit, Tamil, and English had undertaken the stupendous task of providing us with the English Translation and Commentary on Achārya Kundkund's Samayasāra 5, based upon Āchārya Amritchandra's Atmakhyāti. This excellent text has provided me with necessary support and impetus whenever I faced any stumbling blocks during the course of the present work.
Another work of great scholarship is Reality 6, English Translation of Achārya Pujyapada's Sarvārthasiddhi, by Prof. S.A. Jain, first published in 1960. You cannot but marvel at the fineness, in terms of erudition as well as error-free printing in that era of letterpress technology, of the text. This text became extremely useful to me during my translation work of Samayasāra. I remember Prof. S.A. Jain with gratitude and adoration.
Dehradun February, 2012
Vijay K. Jain
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