Why do I write ?

This question asked by raised by Pandit Todarmalji in Moksha Marg Prakashak  in the beginning of the book  itself and answered in the following way :

“ Just as big lamps require large amount of oil , so the one could not afford so much oil can use a smaller lamp and conduct his business; in the same way the large scriptures require lot of capability on  the part of the reader to understand it, therefore for those desirous of reading and do not have such capability ,  a simpler book is easier to understand . Hence I write it. “

While he has used a metaphor of lamp for denoting self, the only possible  way I could describe my contribution is that of a glow worm. However it does serve a purpose i.e. it confirms the presence of light to those who are in the darkness. Once one knows that the light exists then they can make effort to search for it.

In current times , the study of religion, particularly Jainism is hardly feasible except for what little that is provided by parents to the children. Due to the materialistic environment , one hardly has time or place for learning of religion. This is a big handicap for the children of present times. There is no scope for spiritual growth. Another problem is that English being the major language in use in most of the places, Hindi takes a back seat and is generally ignored. In the process , although children do learn Hindi , after some time they avoid it altogether and are not very comfortable with it.

Most of the Jain scriptures were written in Prakrit or Sanskrit  for which not many experts are there. Fortunately in the last century because of advent of publishing , a large amount of them were translated in Hindi and other regional languages and are therefore available.  Still the culture of reading these books hardly exists. Very few books are available in English. The reason is that the vocabulary of English is inadequate to cover the large amount of spiritual and siddhant words used in Hindi. The translation is very difficult and at times quite confusing. This is one of the major reasons why Jainism has not been exposed much to the western countries. In the process Jainism does not get the due recognition which it richly deserves. The students also more comfortable in learning in English than in Hindi. But hardly any material is available on Jainism. Whatever little is available scratches at the surface than touches the depth of it.

In view of these I have made a small attempt to write in English for the benefit of those who may be interested in learning through this medium. For those conversant with Hindi , my advice would be to read directly from the original Shastras. Since most of the siddhant words do not have any equivalent in English, I have used Hindi words since it would make them familiar with those words for future.

It does not matter if nobody reads it, since it would have still served the purpose of improving  my own understanding of the subject. Further you never know when someone stumbling upon this site, reads a line , which can trigger a change in his life.

I remember that earlier I used to think all religions were alike and more of common sense. After all , you have to do good and be good. What else is religion ? It was my uncle who explained the difference of Jainism. “ Do you know that in  Jainism the Punya and Pap are treated as equal ? “ He asked me . I was perplexed. “ How could this be ? “ It demolished all my theory of common sense being the religion. This small question brought a change in my life and outlook. It triggered me to learn of the subject and find answers to the questions.

That is why my blog site is created with the hope that it may change someone’s life. To others it does not matter one way or the other. 

Acknowledgements

Although I read quite few books of Dravyanuyoga but it still used to appear incomplete and inadequate since the structure of religion was not clear. How do things happen in specific way was the question. Several times I tried to read Labdhisar by Pandit Todarmalji but it was in Dhundhari and difficult to understand. I used to give it up after few pages. Fortunately for me sometime in 2007  I came across Dr Ujjwala shah and Pandit Dineshbhai shah. They called me for a shivir at Deolali  organized on the study of Samyak Gyan Chandrika Jeeva kand written by Pandit Todarmalji which Dr Ujjwala shah had translated in Hindi. It was a game changer for me. The structure of Jainism was unfolded. It opened the doors for the study of Dhavala and Jayadhavla. By studying these through the lectures of Dr Ujjwala shah I could get some insight to the system of Jainism. No words  are adequate to convey my gratitude towards them. I sincerely acknowledge  their contribution.