________________
outline of some of his books on Jainism written in English, some of which are his speeches delivered on different occasions in different foreign countries.
"The Glory of Jainism' published by Shree Jaybhikhkhu Sahitya Trust, Ahmedabad 1998, consists of the life and works of the dignified personalities who not only led their life with strict observance of the tenets of Jainism, but also inspired the society in their respective ages. There are 114 such legendry monks, nuns and householders mentioned in this book, whose contribution to Jainism in particular is noteworthy and to Indian culture in general. Kalakacharya, Siddhasena Diwakar, Haribhadrasuri and many others mentioned in the book are history makers. The two introductory articles - 'The Value and Heritage of Jain Religion' and 'The Essence of Jainism' are the salient features of this book, which deal with the history and philosophy of Jainism respectively. It was Lord Mahavira who broke the caste based system of the society and dreamt and advocated society based on equality and equanimity. He had passion for all kinds of living beings. He let people know that a small negligence in action can lead to the killings of I lives whose existence can not be realised by our sense organs.
The first and foremost contribution of Jain Philosophy is the Anekāntvāda, which defines the true nature of matters most precisely. The multifarious nature of substances was noticed by Vedic people only (एकं सत् विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति - ऋग्वेद), but jainism gave a systematic form to this theory which was later on known as the Anekāntavāda. The author deals with all these things very explicitly.
'Tirthankara Mahavira’ published by Jaybhikhkhu Sahitya Trust, Ahmedabad, 2003, describes the birth, life and deeds of Lord Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of this avasarpini era. The books starts with the timeless message of Mahavira. His former births, dreams of his mother, birth, childhood, married life, renunciation, observation of tough austerity, attainement of omniscience, teachings are the aspects of his life, that are focused in this book. More attractive are the tables showing the comparative details of Mahavira's disciples, life span, devotees, viharas (wanderings), chaturmasas (stays in rainy seasons) etc.
Every page is beautified with a miniature displaying different events of Lord Mahavira. The subject matter is lucidly expressed in sophisticated English. We know that before Mahavira, there was Chaturyama Dharma, having four vows only, e.g. non-violence, truthfullness, non-stealing and non-possession. It was Lord Mahavira to introduce the fifth vow celebacy i.e. abstinence from sexual pleasure.
233 Dinanath Sharma
