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Appendices
721
eminent ācāryas. Let us hope that other Sādhvis also may feel themselves called to undertake, with the same degree of competence, works of this kind on other aspects of the tradition.
4. A collection of pravacanas, teachings concerning the
doctrine
Arcană aura aloka (On veneration and vision)6
Mahāsati Śri Umarăvakumvara
This volume contains 21 carefully elaborated pravacanas delivered during one monsoon period. Here various subjects are discussed which form a coherent whole, the aim being, during this lengthy retreat-period, to re-awaken the zeal of her hearers, to help them to deepen their knowledge of the doctrine, to cause them to reflect and to bring about a salutary renewal in their lives. Mahāsati Umarävakumvara is well-known for her erudition and for her indefatigable zeal in travelling all over the North-west and Northern regions, eloquently imparting solid teaching to the Jainas of the towns and villages through which she and her companions pass.
The collection is of interest, as much from the point of view of its arrangement of contents, its presentation and style as for the spirit which animates it.?
Arrangement, presentation and style: it must be borne in mind that although the pravacanas were originally spoken, the collection is now a written text. It is very well produced and follows a fairly systematic order without becoming dull and dry, quite, in fact, to the contrary,
6 Vijayanagara (Rājasthāna), 1970; 388 pp.
7 Arcanā: adoration, veneration, the homage due to the divine and to one's superiors; äloka: view, vision, Jight; the author does not comment upon the title of the book. This title, seemingly, expresses at one and the same time veneration of the dharma and the penetrating vision of this same dharma imparted by knowledge; moreover, if the author is thinking here in terms of light, the meaning is the same, for the vision one has of spiritual things itself constitutes a type of light.
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