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PREFACE : XXXI words of the Lord), Pravacana (the religious discourse) and
Tīrtha have been mentioned as synonyms by the implication that they all are means of achieving spiritual purification'. It is clear from this that, in the Jaina tradition, the word “Tīrtha' has been used not only in the sense of a pious or worshipable place of pilgimage but in a much wider sense. The Jainas do not limit the meaning of Tīrtha to merely a pious holy place but extend it to entire faith and the groups of faithful practitioners of the faith.
The Spiritual Meaning Of Tīrtha -
Going beyond the worldly and etiological meaning the • Jainas have provided a spiritual meaning to the word Tīrtha. In
the Uttarādhyayanasūtra, in the description of Saint Harikesī, who was born in a lowly untouchble caste, on being asked as to which was his Sarovara (lake - a symbol of spiritual cleanser) and which was his pilgrimage for peace (Santitirtha), the saint replied that righteousness was his pilgrimage for peace and the faith itself was his Sarovara, by bathing in which the soul becomes pure and unblemished'. It has been said in the Visesavasyaka Bhāsya that the conventional places of pilgrimages such as river-banks and bathing therein etc. only cleanse the external dirt, i.e. they only purify the body or that they only ford across the terrestrial rivers etc. and hence are not the real pilgrimages. The real pilgrimages are those, which help the soul in fording across the chasm of
14 Suyadhammatitthamaggo pāvayanam pavayanam ca egatthā | Suttam tantami gantho pādho satthami pavayanam ca egatthā ||
- Višesāvaśyaka Bhāsya, 1378. 15 Ke te harae? Ke ya te santititthe? Kahisi N,hão va rayam jahāsi?
Dhamme haraye bambhe santititthe apāvile attapasannalese Jaimsi nhão vimalo visuallho susiibho pajahămi dosam ||
- Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, 12/45-46.
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