The Universe of Acharya Sushil Muni (The Philosophy of the World Religion)

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Acharya Sushil Muniji gave spiritual guidance to the humanity at large and inspired them to realize peace through non-violence. He propagated religion for peace, fully conscious of the fact that peace and harmony were essential for the survival of mankind and its abode-the planet Earth.

The assiduous Sain Sushil Muni founded world Fellowship of Religions in order to project the humanitarian aspect of religion to meet multifarious challenges faced by the suffering humanity. He emphasized the need to save religion from distortions and misuse.

As harbinger of world peace, he defined non-violence as the absence of hatred, tension, anger and discontentment. He enjoined upon all human beings to protect environment, help maintain ecological balance, which is essential for the survival of humanity as well as plant and animal life. He was a strong votary of pollution-free mind and surroundings.

His cherished dream for a peaceful and non-violent world can be realized by the pursuit of religion for universal peace in conformity with the noble ideals of Lord Rsabhanatha to Lord Mahavira.

The humanitarian aspects of religion and the theory of non-violence with the perspective of "World Religion" of Muni Sushilji have been extensively described in this book-a biographical sketch of Muniji, the leader of humanity.

Acarya Dr. Sadhvi Sadhanaji is the devout and worthy successor of Acharya Sushil Muniji Maharaj who have made it a mission of her life to carry the message of her Gurudeva to the suffering humanity. She, the first Jaina Sadhvi of Acharya International Arhat Jain Sangh, has extensively travelled abroad to disseminate the teachings of Lord Mahavira and inspired the disciples of her Gurudeva to rejuvenate centres of learning in Jainism.

She has completed D. Litt. On her thesis titled "Universal of Acharya Sushil Muni" and has also done Ph. D. in "Life and Values in Jain Literature, Apabhramsh."

She established World Fellowship of Religions Headquarters at New Delhi. She is cherished memory of Gurudeva established Ahimsa Paryavarana Sadhana Mandir, which is the first centre of the world and is the recipient of the "Ambassador of Peace Award." Being a versatile writer on ahimsa, paryavarana, Sarva dharma, and World Peace, she has authored many books and contributed articles to various newspapers and periodicals.

I feel pleasure to write this short foreword to the book entitled Universe of Acharya Sushil Muni: The Philosophy of the world Religion, authored by Acarya Dr. Sadhvi Sadhana. As Goethe, Max Muller, Sister Nivedita (Miss Margaret E. Noble), Romain Rolland, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and others believed, I do believe that my motherland Bharat (India), the country of yore, is not the history and geography alone, but a message for the whole world. The great Vedas and Upanishads were the message, Ramayana and the Mahabharata were the message, Mahavira and Buddha were the message, the Sufis and Kabir were the message, Vivekanand and Gandhi were the message.

The message conveyed thousands years back is still as fresh as the rising sun with the shining rays, morning chorus of colourful birds, bloom of smelling flowers and the like. Ahimsa paramodharmah (non-violence is the supreme religion or virtue) conveyed to humanity 2500 years back by Lord Mahavira is still fresh today and shall remain so to the posterity. I feel joy when I try to understand the numerous shades of the meaning of anekantavada (doctrine of pluralism) as enunciated by Lord Mahavira in the midst of the controversy of theistic Vedic philosophies, anti-Vedic Buddhist philosophy, materialisti Charvakian philosophy and his own non-God cause-effect philosophy of the time to avoid the violence of thought and speech, sectism, communalism, ritualism, system of worship through yajna (sacrifice) and the animal killing, group clashes to arrive at the concurrence of thought, agreement and unity in action, peace and harmony in society through non-violence.

Our rishis of the past wanted to turn the world into one family as the incantation speaks-udara caritanantu vasudhaivakutumbakam (the nobles take the world as one family), so that, sarve bhavantu sukhinah sarve santu niramayah (all be happy, all be healthy and sinless).

The great modern saint and a messenger of India Acharya Sushil Muni was born in the age of science, but in true sense he was the combination of religions and science both. He has coined a very appropriate aphorism like our rishis for the twenty-first century as "Now the time has come to turn every religious place into laboratory and every laboratory into religious place." This he wanted to remove the dividing line between religion and science and make them complementary for the good of human being and other stated 8.4 million species as well as the life-stream ecology and also to protect the bio-diversity, so that we may proceed towards-mrtyoma amrtamgamaya (lead as from death to eternity). I am happy to know that he was the first world-citizen to promote the philosophy of a "World religion" towards the end of the twentieth century for the entire humanity and conveyed the message to the horizon of the East and the West. He wanted to harmonise the merits of all the present world-religions without creating "any new flanged cult or religious bodies or changing the existing faiths," but only to bring out the best in each of them and harmonise them. This he called the "World Religion." In order to spread this World Religion/virtue in the world he organized as many as seven World Religion Conferences with the help of the representatives of all the twelve great religions of the world in which all the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India of the time extended their full cooperation.

Though he was a Jain ascetic, but he was equally popular and friendly among Vedics, Buddhists, Judaists, Zoroastrians, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and others. He communicated the message of rationalism when he said that, "any one who says he is the only one telling the truth, is not telling the truth."

This book is full of logical and scientific truth, secular, and liberal approach to religion, pluralistic concept of philosophy, absolute existence and utility ecology, reformist, experiments and significance of non-violence in individual and global life.

The book is rightly dedicated to the United Nations Organisation-temple of peace. I hope the people of all the world-religion, peace and an ideological tool for the non-violent transformation of the world of twenty-first century.

I want to conclude the foreword by producing a portion of our age-old ancestral "Shanti mantra" (incantation of peace), a message from scripture.