Pune, June 1: In a unique achievement, Panyas Arunvijay Maharaj, spiritual head of the Jain Shwetambari Murtipujak sect in Pune, was awarded a doctorate by the University of Pune on Sunday

HIS two volume thesis on Universe and God, according to the Jain perspective, which took him two years to complete, is in 650 pages and has nine chapters.

And this research got Panyas Arunvijay Maharaj, spiritual head of the Jain Shwetambari Murtipujak sect in Pune a doctorate from the University of Pune at a function organised at the Jain temple in Adinath Society on Sunday. Guided by B H Shukla, he is perhaps the first Jain muni to be awarded a doctorate.

The thesis talks about the Jains belief in God and explains the existence of the universe on the basis of five elements-space, motion, rest, atoms, soul in relation to time.

Born in Pali, Rajasthan, Arunvijay Maharaj decided to seek deeksha when he was 18 much against his wealthy family’s wishes. Having decided that, he left home one night and accepted monkhood. His love for learning and the quest to seek answers to who was the creator of this universe led him to pursue reading. ‘‘When I posed this question to several learned people, their answers did not satisfy me and they would advise me to seek answers in the books. That’s how I got my BA and MA degrees from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. When I still did not find the answer, I decided to study further and approached the University of Pune to do my doctorate,’’ he says.

In the process, he has conducted a comparative study of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity and met scholars who gave him an insight. ‘‘While these religions believe that God is the creator of this universe, Jainism believes that the universe already existed before God and that a living being’s karma leads him into the cycle of birth and death. For my thesis, I have deeply studied the Vedas, vedanta philosophy, the Upanishads, the Bible and the Koran,’’ he says.

‘‘My studies in Jain philosophy have led me to believe that karma is equal to all and there should be no compulsion to call God as the creator or the director of this Universe. He shows us the path to salvation. The 24 tirthankars were human beings who became gods through salvation through meditation.’’