समयसार (प्राकृत गाथा एवं हिन्दी-अंग्रेजी व्याख्या)

Preface
Many illuminated works and teachings of great thinkers and sages of the
past have repeatedly told us that we need to be able to distinguish
between valuable gems and valueless stones, both of which are scattered
along our way. One such valuable gem that I could lay my hands on, about
a decade-and-a-half ago, was that amazingly comprehensive yet precise
treatise The Key of Knowledge ⁴, by Shri Champat Rai Jain. The book,
first published in 1915, true to its title, has timeless pearls of wisdom in
each of its 900-plus pages; one has only to have patience, and develop
appreciation and understanding to pick them up. No other work that I
know of treats of the great issues that confront humanity with the same
simplicity, charm, ease, authority and freedom. As could be expected from
a Barrister-at-Law of that era, he was a brilliant grammarian and
logician; but more than that, he was a great philosopher. His single-
mindedness of purpose has always astounded me, and I salute his noble
soul.
Prof. A. Chakravarti (1880-1960), a versatile scholar of Sanskrit, Prākrit,
Tamil, and English had undertaken the stupendous task of providing us
with the English Translation and Commentary on Āchārya Kundkund's
Samayasāra ⁵, based upon Āchārya Amritchandra's Ātmakhyāti. This
excellent text has provided me with necessary support and impetus
whenever I faced any stumbling blocks during the course of the present
work.
Another work of great scholarship is Reality ⁶, English Translation of
Āchārya Pujyapada's Sarvārthasiddhi, by Prof. S.A. Jain, first published
in 1960. You cannot but marvel at the fineness, in terms of erudition as
well as error-free printing in that era of letterpress technology, of the text.
This text became extremely useful to me during my translation work of
Samayasāra. I remember Prof. S.A. Jain with gratitude and adoration.
Dehradun
February, 2012 Vijay K. Jain
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