Self Realisation

Author(s): Shrimad Rajchandra, Govardhandas
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram

Page 35

The Self Realization
I endorse the religion which accepts the worship of the idols of the great Tirthankaras." In these fearless statements, Srimad advises all seekers of truth to keep truth alone and part with prejudices whereever they are found. Srimad says that the Jaina religion would have been easy of approach and benefit to seekers of self-liberation, had it not divided itself into two powerful sects on the ground of idol-worship. A truly religious man does not pamper this or that opinion, he is ready to accept his mistakes and sacrifice everything on the alter of truth and the experience of the Tirthankaras or the great liberated souls. Srimad declares his complete faith in the sayings and experiences of Mahavira. He says "The author of the Jaina scriptures does not mean to say that all those who accept the Jaina religion will obtain liberation. One has to work for what he believes. One whose soul will practise religion will gain by it. Worship of the idols of the Tirthankaras whose obligation on us is unreturnable is a great purificatory agent and an effective means to Self-liberation. It is meet for us to realize the objective for which worship of the idols is enjoined by the scriptures."
Srimad Rajachandra as a householder 4
In a letter to his friend in his twentieth year he writes, "Having no intrinsic love of money and yet to use it for the benefit of the distressed and the needy, I tried to earn some money for the future. On other side, wealth, even if. acquired for benevolent works, may breed in the person possessing it, blindness, deafness and dumbness. Hence, I do not care for wealth at all."
Srimad married Zabakbai, daughter of Popatlalbhai, the elder brother of Jagjivandas Mehta on the 12th day of the bright half of the month of Maha in Vikram Samvat 1944. He was twenty at the time of his marriage. One year after his marriage he writes to a
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