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Śramana, Vol. 61, No. 2
April - June 10
CONTRIBUTION OF ĀCĀRYA MAHĀPRAJÑA TO THE WORLD OF
PHILOSOPHY
Samani Dr. Shashiprajna* ..
[Late Ācārya Mahāprajña was a great saint, thinker, philosopher and scholar of Jainism. Through some of his novel concepts he enriched the Jaina Philosophy and gave insight for social transformation. He looked at theory of Şadjivanikāya, Karmavāda and morality in non-traditional way and introduced few newer ideas to make Jaina philosophy compatible with the modern empirical world philosophy. In this paper the author underlines the novel contributions of Ācārya Mahāprajña in the field of Jaina philosophy.] Introduction:
The study of philosophy is the continuous process of quest for truth. In this non-stopping journey of development of thoughts great philosophers contributed a lot by their novel thoughts and enriched the world of philosophy. In this paper, efforts will be made to highlight the philosophical thoughts envisaged by the 21st century's great philosopher Ācārya Mahāprajña. Mahāprajña's independent, innovative thoughts regarding the concept of Jaina theory of causation and concept of creation can be considered as the metaphysical contribution. The concept of Şadjīvanikāya and self development, the concept of moral responsibility, karmavāda and puruşārthavāda, etc. give us a clear notion of karma philosophy and its social relevance in the era of Science and Technology. Moreover his ideas regarding the Jaina Ethical code of conduct and criteria of morality are really touching points and can brain-wash the misconceptions regarding the Jaina ethical concepts that they are not
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Professor, Jain Philosophy, Jaina Vishva Bharati, Ladnun
