Answer

You have expressed a very thoughtful Jain understanding.

Yes, in Jain Dharma, we should be very careful before judging another living being’s inner state. The true level of vītarāgatā—freedom from attachment and aversion—is extremely subtle. Ordinary people cannot fully know another soul’s inner purity, intentions, passions, or spiritual state.

And yes, Āgam-vāṇī is not merely for discussion or display. Its real purpose is inner transformation.

Explanation

Jain Dharma gives great importance to:

• Ātma-chintan — deep self-reflection
• Pratikraman — honest review of one’s faults
• Saṃyam — self-restraint
• Vairāgya — detachment
• Vrat and Mahāvrat — disciplined vows leading toward purification

Group practice, satsang, pravachan, and collective worship can inspire us. They can create reverence for Dharma and strengthen right direction.

But the deepest work of Dharma is inward. No group can do our self-analysis for us. No one else can remove our passions. No one else can experience our soul’s purity on our behalf.

That inner journey requires:

• silence,
• seclusion,
• careful observation of thoughts,
• withdrawal from ego and display,
• and sincere effort to reduce attachment and aversion.

Spiritual Understanding

In Jain Dharma, external religious activity is meaningful only when it supports inner purification.

If group practice increases humility, compassion, discipline, and awareness, it is helpful.

But if it becomes comparison, pride, identity, argument, judgment, or social exhibition, then it moves away from the true spirit of Dharma.

The path of vītarāgatā ultimately becomes deeply personal. The soul has to turn toward itself. As restraint matures, the seeker naturally develops more detachment from unnecessary social involvement and becomes more absorbed in inner excellence.

This is why the highest Jain ideal—like that of the Tirthankars and true sādhus—is rooted in complete non-attachment, solitude of the soul, and direct awareness of one’s own nature.

Takeaway

Āgam-vāṇī inspires; practice transforms.

Group Dharma may support the beginning, but true Jain sādhanā matures in self-restraint, solitude, self-analysis, and inner purification.

The real question is not whether others are advanced, but whether I am reducing my own attachment, aversion, ego, and passions.