Biography of Acharya Mahaprajna

Book excerpt: Acharya Mahaprajna was one of the most celebrated Jain thinkers of the world and is the tenth Acharya of the Jain Shwetambar Terapanth sect. Born in 1920 in a village in Rajasthan; he became a monk at the age of ten. He got his education under the guidance of Acharya Shree Tulsi; who launched the Anuvrat movement in 1949 to rid the world of violence and hatred and free religion from sectarianism.A multidimensional personality and a renowned scholar of Indian and Western philosophy and religion; Acharya Mahaprajna was a prolific writer and was called a ‘modern Vivekananda’. He traversed more than 100;000 km on foot and visited 10;000 villages to spread the message of non-violence. To this purpose he embarked on an Ahimsa Yatra in 2001. He was honoured with the Communal Harmony Award in 2004 for his contribution in this field.