QUOTES ON JAINISM FROM LEGENDS

SUPERIORITY OF JAINISM EXPLAINED BY OTHERS

1. DR. RAJENDRA PRASAD:
"JAINISM HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE WORLD THE SUBLIME DOCTRINE OF "AHIMSA", NO OTHER RELIGION HAS EMPHASISED THE IMPORTANCE OF AHIMSA AND CARRIED ITS PRACTICE TO THE EXTENT THAT JAINISM HAS DONE, JAINISM DESERVE TO BECOME THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION BECAUSE OF ITS "AHIMSA" DOCTRINE.

2. DR. RABINDRANATH TAGORE:
"LORD MAHIVEER PROCLAIMED IN INDIA THAT RELIGION IS A REALITY AND NOT A MERE SOCIAL CONVENTION. IT IS REALLY TRUTH".

3. REV. A. J. DUBOIS:
"YES, HIS (THE JAINA'S) RELIGION IS ONLY TRUE ONE UPON EARTH, THE PRIMITIVE FAITH OF ALL MANKIND."

4. H.WARREN, LONDON:
"IN JAINISM I FIND A SOLUTION TO THE HITHERTO UNSOLVED PROBLEMS OF EXISTENCE, I FIND PLAIN ANSWERS TO DIFFICULT QUESTIONS WHICH CANNOT BE TRUTHFULLY REFUTED AND WHICH SINK INTO AND SATISFY EVERY CORNER OF THE BRAIN, WHICH IF ATTACKED BY A SEARCHING CRITICISM SHOW UP ONLY STILL MORE BRILLIANTLY".

5. DR. MAURICE BLOOMFIELD (JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE USA) : "

....... THE JAINS ARE A VERSATILE OASIS IN THE DESERT OF HUMAN STRIFE AND WORLDLY AMBITION. IT WERE A BETTER WORLD INDEED IF THE WORLD WERE JAIN."

6. SRI R.K. SHANMUKHAM CHETTY (MINISTER OF THE CENTRAL CABINET, GOVT. OF INDIA)
"I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT IF ONLY JAINISM HAD KEPT ITS HOLD FIRMLY IN INDIA, WE WOULD PERHAPS HAVE HAD MORE UNITED INDIA & CERTAINTY A GREATER INDIA THAN TODAY.”

7. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:

MR GEORGE BERNAD SHAW, IN THE COURSE OF HIS TALKS WITH SHRI DEVDAS GANDHI, SON OF MAHATMA GANDHI, EXPRESSED THE VIEW THAT JAIN TEACHINGS WERE APPEALED TO HIM MUCH AND THAT HE WISHED TO BE REBORN IN A JAINA FAMILY. DUE TO THE INFLUNCE OF JAINISM HE WAS ALWAYS TAKING PURE FOOD , FREE FROM MEAT AND LIQUOR.

8. JUSTICE RENGNEKAR: (MUMBAI HIGH COURT)
"FROM MODERN HISTORICAL RESEARCHES, WE COME TO KNOW THAT LONG BEFORE BRAHMINISM DEVELOPED INTO HINDU DHARMA, JAINISM WAS PREVALENT IN THIS COUNTRY."

9. MAJOR JGR FORLONG:

SHORTER STUDIES IN THE SCIENCE OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION P242. (CJ) P.18 "THERE ALSO EXISTED THROUGHOUT UPPER INDIA AN ANCIENT AND HIGHLY ORGANIZED RELIGION, PHILOSOPHICAL, ETHICAL AND SEVERELY ASCETICAL VIZ. JAINISM, OUT OF WHICH CLEARLY DEVELOPED THE EARLY ASCETICAL FEATURES OF BRAHIMINISM AND BUDDHISM. LONG BEFORE THE ARYANS REACHED THE GANGES OR EVEN THE SARASWATI, JAINS HAD BEEN TAUGHT BY SOME 22 PROMINENT BODHAS, SAINTS OR TEERTHANKARAS, PRIOR TO THE 23RD TEERTHAN- KARAS PARSHWA OF THE 8 TH OR 9TH CENTURY B.C."

10. DR. E THOMAS:
"IN ALL UPPER WESTERN NORTH CENTRAL ASIA THEN, SAY 1500 TO 800 B.C., EXISTED THROUGHOUT INDIA AN ANCIENT AND HIGHLY ORGANISED RELIGION, PHILOSPHICAL,
ETHICAL AND SEVERELY ASCETICAL VIZ., JAINISM, OUT OF WHICH CLEARLY DEVELOPED THE EARLY ASCETICAL FEATURES OF BRAHMINISM AND BUDDHISM."

11. SRI KUMARASWAMY SASTRI
(CHIEF JUSTICE, MADRAS HIGH COURT)
"JAINISM IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM HINDUISM AND INDEPENDENT OF IT. THE BEGINNING OF JAINISM AND ITS HISTORY ARE MUCH OLDER THAN THE "SMRUTI
SHASTRAS" AND THEIR COMMENTARIES". (ALL INDIA REPORTER 1927, MADRAS 228,229 (GAHEPPA V. ERAMA)

12. DR. HARISATYA BHATTACHARYA:
"IT HAS ACCORDINGLY APPEARED TO ME THAT A STUDY OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT A STUDY OF JAINA'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO IT".

13. DR. L.P. TESSITORI, ITALY:
"THE MORE THE SCIENTIFIC KNOWEDGE ADVANCES, THE MORE THE JAIN TEACHINGS WILL BE PROVED. JAINISM IS OF A VERY HIGH ORDER, ITS IMPORTANT TEACHINGS ARE
BASED UPON SCIENCE".

14. MOHD. ABDUL WAHEED KHAN : (DIRECTOR OF A.P.)
"THE JAIN PHILOSOPHER AS I KNOW IS FREE FROM DOGMATISM, FRANK, REALISTIC AND STANDS IN CLOSE RELATION TO OTHER REALISTIC SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT. THEY HAVE
LEFT FOR THE POSTERITY A FULL FLEDGED PHILOSPHY WHICH IS INDEED AN INVALUABLE HEIRLOOM".

15. MAHATMA GANDHI:
"I MAY SAY WITH CONVICTION THAT THE DOCTRINE FOR WHICH THE NAME OF LORD MAHAVEER IS GLORIFIED NOW A DAYS IS THE DOCTRINE OF "AHIMSA", IF ANYONE HAS PRACTISED IT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT AND PROPAGATED MOST OF DOCTRINE OF AHIMSA, IT WAS MAHAVEER "

16. ALEXANDER GORDEN:
"SUCH IS THE FOUNDATION OF JAIN RELIGION, THAT TO ITS TRUE FOLLOWERS NO MORALITY, NO RELIGION, IS HIGHER THAN PRECEPTS OF AHIMSA. THEREFORE THEY CAN RIGHTLY TAKE PRIDE TO BE ABSOLUTE BELIEVERS IN UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
OF ALL LIVING BEINGS".

17. S. GOPAL KRISHNA MURTHY:
"IT IS NOT CORRECT TO BELIEVE THAT BUDDHISM LEFT SOME HINDU CASTE LIKE BRAHMINS, VYSHYAS, ETC. VEG ETARIAN. IT WAS ACTUALLY JAINISM WHICH ACHIEVED THIS IN ANDHRA PRADESH. “BUDDHISTS EAT EVEN TO OBLIGE
A DEVOTEE; JAINS DO NOT”

18. SARDAR VALLABH BHAI PATEL :
"IT IS THE DUTY OF JAINAS TO PROPAGATE THE DOCTRINE OF "AHIMSA" THROUGHOUT THE WORLD".

19. E.W.HOPKINS :
"JAINISM IS ENTIRELY INDEPENDENT OF BUDDHISM. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO PHILOSOPHIES SEEMS SO GREAT THAT IT INCLUDES ANY IDEA OF COMMON
ORIGIN".

20. PROF. T. W. RHYS DAVIS :
( QUOTED IN ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANICA VOL. XXIX 10 TH ED. P 661)
"IT IS NOW CERTAIN THAT THE JAIN COMMUNITY WAS REALLY EVEN OLDER THAN THE TIME OF BUDDHA, AND WAS REORGANISED BY HIS CONTEMPORARY THE MAHAVEERA, NAMED VARDHAMANA.

21.NOEL RELTING JAIN:
(EMERSON COLLEGE,BOSTON JAN 7,1967)

"MANY PEOPLE MIGHT BE LED TO JAINISM THROUGH BUDDHISM.IT IS A STAGE BEFORE JAINISM. THE MATTER OF KNOWLEDGE OBSCURING KARMAS IS IMPORTANT IN THIS CONTEXT. THE BUDDHISTS ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH. IF THEY REMOVE THE KNOWEDGE OBSCURING KARMAS BY HOLY ACTS THEY WILL SEE TRUTH OF JAINISM IN SHORT TIME. JAINISM WAS FIRST, BUDDHISM CAME FROM IT. IF WE WISH TO HAVE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF BUDDHA OR MAHATMA JESUS, WE MUST BE GROUNDED IN JAINISM".

22. DR. SATISCHANDRA VIDYABHUSHAN :
"THE JAIN SADHU LEADS A LIFE WHICH IS PRAISED BY ALL. HE PRACTISES THE VRATS AND THE RITES STRICTLY AND SHOWS TO THE WORLD THE WAY ONE HAS TO GO IN ORDER TO REALISE THE SOUL (THE ATMA). EVEN THE LIFE OF A JAIN HOUSEHOLDER IS SO FAULTLESS THAT INDIA SHOULD
BE PROUD OF HIM".

23. DR. HERMANN JACOBI
(QUOTED IN HIS BOOK SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST ED.BY F MAX MUELLER VOL.XXII 1884)
"IN CONCLUSION LET ME ASSERT MY CONVICTION THAT JAINISM IS AN ORIGINAL SYSTEM QUITE DISTINCT AND INDEPENDENT FROM ALL OTHERS; AND THAT THEREFORE IT IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE FOR THE STUDY OF PHILOSPHICAL THOUGHT AND RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA."

24. DR. HERTAL :
"THE JAINAS HAVE WRITTEN GREAT MASTERPIECES ONLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE WORLD."

25. DR. S.RADHAKRISHNAN :
"THERE IS NOTHING WONDERFUL IN MY SAYING THAT 'JAINISM' WAS IN EXISTENCE LONG BEFORE VEDAS WERE COMPOSED,"

26. LOKMANYA BALGANGADHAR TILAK :
"WE LEARN FROM SHASTRAS AND COMMENTARIES THAT JAINISM IS EXISTING FROM BEGINNINGLESS TIME. THIS FACT IS INDISPUTABLE AND FREE FROM DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. THERE IS HISTORICAL EVIDENCE ON THIS POINT."

27. MRS. ANNIE BESANT :
(QUOTED IN JAIN GAZETTE VOL.X NO. 1914 P.4)

"LORD MAHAVEER WAS THE LAST & NOT THE FIRST OF THE GREAT 24 TEACHERS AND THAT EUROPE HAS DENIED THE HISTORICITY OF THE OTHER 23 TEERTHANKARAS WHO PRECEDED HIM, BECAUSE, BEING ITSELF YOUNG, IT COULD NOT TRAVEL BACKWARD FAR ENOUGH, AND LIKED TO MAKE INDIAN THOUGHTS, LESS ANCIENT THAN IT IS, THAT BOTH JAINISM & HINDUISM WENT BACK FURTHER THAN
EITHER HISTRORY OR LEGEND COUNTED THEM."

GURUS ARE THEY WHO CAN GIVE
KNOWEDGE ALONG WITH
DETACHMENT (VAIRAGYA)