________________
.46
ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION*
Adi Puruşya Adisa Jina Âdi Subidhi Karatira: Dharma Dhurandhara Parama Guru, Namaun Âdi Avatîra! [Tr. To the first Perfect Man, the Lord of the Conquerors, the first Most Excellent Arranger of things,
The Supporter of Dharma, the Supreme Teacher,
Salutation !] Brethren and Sisters, or as you have it in the West, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am, indeed, happy to have this opportunity of addressing the present distinguished company on the subject of Religion and Comparative Religion, and would like to begin by thanking our worthy friend Dr. Alberto Poggi who has kindly made the necessary arrangements for this lecture.
i
Before proceeding any further, I think, I ought to give you an explanation of the salutation which I offered in the Sanskrit language to the Jaina Divinity at the commencement of my speech. It is a rule with us Jainas that we always begin our religious discourses with a salutation to some form of Divinity Manifest, that is to say, to one of the great Teachers of mankind who attained Divine Perfection and taught the path of its attainment to others. The object of the salutation is to purify the mind of the speaker and also of the hearers from such undesirable causes of falsehood and error as passion, prejudice, bigotry and the like. The mere contemplation of Divinity in thought has the tendency to banish these evil traits from the mind; and with them are also banished private hatreds and feuds of all description. The Great Divinity to whom salutation was offered by me this day is known as Adi Nath Bhagwan, which means the first Worshipful Lord. He is better known as Risabha Deva who flourished very very far back in the traditional period. You are aware that modern research has shown that Jainism was flourishing over 2,700 years ago, which is practically the limit of the historical age, at least in India. Beyond this period nothing whatever is known to history. How much further than 2,700 years back did Jainism extend in the past cannot be known historically today. But one thing is clear that that period
* A lecture delivered at Genova (Italy) on the 6th January, 1927.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
