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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
which are associated with our truest and best conception of divinity. "These divine attributes-omniscience, bliss and the like -- are, how ever, not actually manifest in the case of the soul that is involved in transmigration, but will become so when it attains to nirvana.
Nirvana implies complete freedom from all those impurities of sin which limit and curtail the natural attributes and properties of the soul. Accordingly, the Jainas aspire to become Gods by crossing the sea of samsara (births and deaths), and the creed they follow to obtain that devoutly wished-for consummation is the method which was followed by those who have already reached the goal in viewnirvana. It is this method which is known as Jainism, and the images that are installed in our temples are the statues or 'photos' of the greatest amongst those who have already reached nirvana and taught others the way to get there. They are called Tirtham karas, literally, the makers or founders of a tirtha, a fordable channel or passage (across the ocean of births and deaths).
How did they cross the sea of samsara themselves? By curbing their fleshly lusts and by purifying and perfecting their souls. We, too, have got to tread the path they trod, if we would attain to the heights they have attained. In a word, the Tirthamkaras are models of perfection for our souls to copy and to walk in the footsteps of. Their Images are kept in the temples to constantly remind us of our high ideal, and to inspire us with faith and confidence in our own souls. As for Their worship, They have no desire to be worshipped by us: Their perfection is immeasurably greater than we can praise: They are full and perfect in Their wholeness. offer Them the devotion of our hearts, because in the initial stages of the journey, it is the most potent, if not the only means of making steady progress.
We
It is not mere hero-worship, though worship of a hero is transcendent admiration. As Carlyle put it, it is something more; we admire what we ourselves aspire to attain to.
The great English thinker, Thomas Carlyle, tells us :
"I say great men are still admirable. I say there is at bottom, nothing else admirable? No nobler feeling than this of admiration for one higher than himself
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