Vijaydharmasuri

Author(s): A J Sunavala
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Page 25

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 19 life, pure thought and pure joy,—the true Sat-ChitAnanda of existence.
GREAT SERVICES RENDERED BY VIJAYA DHARMA SŪRI
Futile, indeed, it would be to enumerate the great services, which Vijaya Dharma Sūri, the distinguished Monk, bas rendered to humanity in general, and his own people in particular. His extraordinary activity, eloquence and power of persuasion, which have resulted in the creation of a number of educational and philanthropical institutions, such as schools, printingpresses, libraries, hospitals and äshramas; his learning, scholarship and sound erudition, which have resulted in the issuing of journals and periodicals, in the publication of an important part of the Jain literature which had hitherto remained ignored, and in the dissemination of a correct knowledge of the principles and tenets of the Jain religion ; his interest in the productions of the ancient Jain civilization, such as stone inscriptions and manuscripts—the relics of a glorious past—which the apathy and ignorance of the people had allowed to decay and rot in neglect, and his efforts to preserve and divulge the same; his crusade against the killing of animals, and his battles so earnestly fought in favour of righteousness and renunciation; his self-devotion and self-sacrifice in the interest of all that is good and virtuous; his tolerance of, and broad sympathy with, men of all castes and creeds, and his unbounded selfless love for humanity-all these explain the cause of his world