Acarya Vidyasagar On Sanctity Of Jainism And Its Purpose In Our lives

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Acarya Vidyasagar (born October 10, 1946), in the erstwhile British India, is not only the most celebrated leader of Jain spirituality of our times but also the most introspective one — his discourses, even though more general than specific to the common lives, often tend to search the intricate depths of the purpose of religion in life.



In one of his speeches published in the September-1997 third edition of "Pavan Pravachan" on the occasion of Chaturmas of three of his prominent disciples in Bhopal, India, the Acarya talks about religion as a science of self upliftment.
"Out of many religions existent in the world today, there’s one religion that shows way to take ourselves closer to greatness from affliction and that religion is Jainism.
The principles of Jainism emphasize upon placing your personal upliftment first, than promotion of your faith for its expansion."
The sky-clad Acarya further enlists the need of putting your own spiritual elevation prior to the endless efforts one wastes in promoting their beliefs. He says —

"Today, there are only a few actual seekers who lead their lives in accordance with the teachings of Jainism but a hoard of those who are ferociously trying to promote Jainism, and spending a vital part of their strength and commodities in doing so and it's ironic that they do not try to make their own selves better first ...Our first duty is that we step up from the bottoms of sins and hatred, that we try to elevate our own level to a greater pedestal of humanity."
He explains why the need of faith promotion comes only after the need of self purification —
"In our times, it's actually difficult to find the company of righteous people. The greatest souls like the Tirthankaras are not going to appear to preach you and to see them or meet them is practically impossible now. But even after that Jainism still survives and will survive until the end of this fifth epoch of time. And even though the worshippers of humanity are in a limited number now, the worship of fine qualities will go on. And that is the sanctity of this religion."
Addressing the greatest question of every human's life 'how to elevate oneself?' the prolific leader of humanism speaks —
"How to become great is a question one must ask himself. We should realise that a person who already considers himself the greatest, elevated, and unaffilicted has no chance of improvement. And rightly so, why will the greatest try to become great? ... So first we have to ascertain, learn and discover that we need improvement, that we aren't perfect and that we are fully capable of making mistakes. These mistakes are the cause of affliction."
This series of sermons by Acarya Vidyasagar remains the most comprehensive analysis of the profound purpose of our existence and the need of religion in our lives. Compliment it with Acarya Vidyasagar on How To Become Greater Than Ourselves.

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