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समान गुरूवर अपने अनुभव और मिलाकर, घोल-घोलकर पिलाते ही गये, पिलाते ही गये। फलस्वरूप एक उपलब्धि हुई, अपूर्व विभूति की, आत्मानुभूति की !”
Satpurusha Shri Kanji Swami often used to comment that the scripture Samayasara contains the summary of hundreds of thousands of scriptures; it is a pillar of Jainology; to a seeker it is a desire-fulfillingcow (Kamadhenu)... In his words, "R
है। लाखों शास्त्रों का सार इसमें है; जैन शासन का यह स्तम्भ है; साधक की यह ...." [4,5]. He was so much impressed with this scripture that he gave 19 rounds of discourses [4] on Samayasara, and on the marble walls of a beautiful temple in Songarh (Gujarat) he got engraved all 415 stanzas of this scripture together with the stanzas of a few other scriptures written by Acārya Kundakunada.
Acarya Mahaprajna, a well known Acarya from Svetamber Terapanth tradition very nicely summarizes the significance of Acarya Kundakunda and his Samayasara. He writes, "Jainism is seasoned with a mature tradition of metaphysics and spirituality. The name of Acārya Kundakunda shines like a resplendent constellation in the sky of this tradition. He was an author of many treatises, one of which is Samayasara, which is the most outstanding one in the field of spirituality. It is replete with many mystical ideas and many thoughts worth contemplation." [ 9(a)].
Muni Mahendra Kumarji in the preface of his book entitled "Acārya Kundakunda's Samayasara" writes, "The ancient philosophical treatises which deal with the topic of deeper metaphysical and epistemological expositions have a very important place in the studies of Jain philosophy. Acarya Kundakunda's Samayasara can be considered as one of the most important of such treatises, as far as the Jain authors are concerned. It has the same value in Jain tradition as the treatises/ scriptures like Brahma Sutra in the Vaidika tradition and Visuddhimaggo in the Buddhist tradition. In short, we can say that for anyone to understand the essence of Jain philosophy, Samayasāra has to be studied." [9(b)]
Before describing the contents of Samayasara, it may be useful to introduce some philosophical concepts through an example. We know very well that a mine containing a large amount of non-gold and a small amount of gold is called a gold-mine. Regarding a gold-mine we are clear that a large portion of the soil of the mine is not gold but every particle of the soil of the mine is valuable. In the same way,
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