Jainism Christianity and Science

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: The Indian Press Allahabad
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/011064/1

Page #1

THE FREE INDOLOGICAL
COLLECTION WWW.SANSKRITDOCUMENTS.ORG/TFIC
FAIR USE DECLARATION
This book is sourced from another online repository and provided to you at this site under the TFIC collection. It is provided under commonly held Fair Use guidelines for individual educational or research use. We believe that the book is in the public domain and public dissemination was the intent of the original repository. We applaud and support their work wholeheartedly and only provide this version of this book at this site to make it available to even more readers. We believe that cataloging plays a big part in finding valuable books and try to facilitate that, through our TFIC group efforts. In some cases, the original sources are no longer online or are very hard to access, or marked up in or provided in Indian languages, rather than the more widely used English language. TFIC tries to address these needs too. Our intent is to aid all these repositories and digitization projects and is in no way to undercut them. For more information about our mission and our fair use guidelines, please visit our website.
Note that we provide this book and others because, to the best of our knowledge, they are in the public domain, in our jurisdiction. However, before downloading and using it, you must verify that it is legal for you, in your jurisdiction, to access and use this copy of the book. Please do not download this book in error. We may not be held responsible for any copyright or other legal violations. Placing this notice in the front of every book, serves to both alert you, and to relieve us of any responsibility.
If you are the intellectual property owner of this or any other book in our collection, please email us, if you have any objections to how we present or provide this book here, or to our providing this book at all. We shall work with you immediately.
-The TFIC Team.

Page #2


Page #3

JAINISM CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE
BY C. R. JAIN
was proba
ALLAHABAD THE INDIAN PRESS, LTD.
OS, LTD.
1930

Page #4

Printed by K. Miltra at The Indian Press, Ltd.,
Allahabad.

Page #5

"Inasmuch as, by long-continued neglect on your part, to your own injury, your mind has caused to sprout many hurtful conceptions about religion, and ye have become like land fallów by the carelessness of the husbandman, you need a long time for your purification, that your mind, receiving like good seed the true word that is imparted to you, may not choke it with evil cares, and render it unfruitful with respect to works that are able to save you. Wherefore it behoves those who are careful of their own salvation to hear more constantly, that their sins which have been long multiplying may, in the short time that remains, be matched with constant care for their purification. Since, therefore, no one knows the time of his end, hasten to pluck out the many thorns of your hearts; but not by little and little, for then you cannot be purified, for you have been long fallow.”-(The Clementine Homilies) Anle Nicene Christian Library, vol. xvii. p. 173.

Page #6


Page #7

INTRODUCTION
In these pages I am presenting to the Englishknowing world, and through it to the rest of humanity, three things, namely, the oldest Religion which is the least known, the true teaching of Christianity which was never imparted except to the chosen few and then only with adequate safeguards--laconicity, and abrupt incoherence to prevent its reaching the generality of men, and a Science of Salvation which was known to the ancients but which the moderns have still to learn.
Jainism is not only the oldest Religion, but it is also the parent of all other forms of religion. It is the Science of Salvation itself, on the basis of which all kinds of allegories have been constituted in different continents and lands. Perhaps the reader will not be quite unwilling to accept this by the time he has read the last word in the book.
The true teaching of Christianity has to be hunted out from under a heap of useless rubbish under which it was purposely buried by the founders of the creed. Its authenticity and value will prove themselves in the course of the following pages.
Science-or, rather I ought to say, modern sciencedeclines to lend its assent to Christian doctrines as taught by the Church, and leading churchmen themselves are slowly deserting their posts and joining the opposition in growing numbers. This is because what

Page #8

vi
the Church has been preaching thus far is not the doctrine of the Christian religion but the laconicity and the incoherence under which the true teaching was hidden to prevent its reaching the 'swine' and the ' dogs'! I shall let the early Fathers of the Church propound the truth themselves, and shall do no more than furnish rational argument in support of their views wherever this seems necessary and can be done.
INTRODUCTION
I am avoiding all references to the Jaina authorities in these pages and am merely giving what may be described as a general statement of its teaching, to attain to brevity. I am also avoiding Jaina technicalities for the sake of lucidity.
In conclusion, may I ask the reader to bear in mind that no science can possibly be studied with advantage to the subject-matter as well as to the reader, if one merely glance through a book in a few places, here and there. A great deal of injustice will be done to the subject of this book if the reader will not induce himself to read through, from cover to cover, bearing in mind what he reads.
}
49, Winchester Street, London, S.W.1.
C. R. JAIN.

Page #9

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword
:
V-vi
:::::::
Cause
Introduction CHAP. 1 (Jainism)
2 (Religion is a Science) 3 (Allegory) 4 (Immortality) 5 (Knowledge) 6 (The Happiness of Gods)
7 (Souls all Alike) „ 8 (Every Soul is its own God) , 9 (Wretched State of the Embodied Soul) , 10 (Physical Body, Embodiment in Matter, the
Trouble) , 11 (Faith, Knowledge and Conduct)
12 (The True Teachers) 13 (Four and Twenty Elders) 14 (The True Sense of Worship)
15 (Is there & Creator?) , 16 (The Attributes of Divinity) ...
17 (The Bondage of Sın) 18 (Transmigration and Nirvana)
(How to be rid of Matter) .. 20 (Deification is the Result of Right Action) 21 (Eternity of the State of Inberation) ...
(Not all shall be saved) 23 (Miscellaneous Correspondences) , 24 (The Secret Sense) „ 25 (The Saviour Christ) ... „ 26 (Summary and Conclusions)
99
104
:::::::::::::::::
112
122
143 146
147
149
159
176
185

Page #10


Page #11

CHAPTER 1
JAINISM
Jainism claims to be a Science. It was founded by MAN; properly qualified MEN have been confirming and re-confirming its doctrine. Put in a nutshell, its teaching is only this: man is not only a bundle, of flesh and blood (matter), he is also a soul. In reality, the soul is the man himself, the body is only a prison in which the soul is embodied. All living beings are souls. Souls are immortal. They are composed of a simple substance, which is not matter; but which is found to exist in association with matter. Matter's association is exceedingly harmful for the soul. Thereby it is deprived of its natural attributes in a greater or less degree. Its natural attributes include immortality, omniscience, or unlimited knowledge, and bliss. If the soul were set free from the clutches of matter it would enjoy all its natural perfections, and as this will only be attained after the destruction of the causes of the coming together of spirit (that is to say, the soulsubstance) and matter, the latter will never be able to assail it again. Freed Souls are, thus, set free to enjoy Their attributes and Perfections for ever. Very many men have already attained to liberation in the past. They are now residing at the topmost part of the universe, free from the worldly afflictions and the cravings and perplexities of the flesh. They are termed

Page #12

૭
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
Gods; and are the only true Gods. There are and can be no other Gods besides them; all other gods are mythological, without exception, or are merely mortals termed gods for some special reason. The Perfected Souls have the human form, being composed of the pure substance of Spirit, and completely rid of the companionship of matter.
Those who do not attain to liberation, do not and cannot cease to exist; on the separation from one body, that is on the occurrence of death, they pass out' into another body, and thus remain involved in an endless series of births and deaths, till they are able to avail themselves of the Science of Salvation, if it so be that the influence of matter in their case admit of this being done. Conditions of embodied life are full of misery even in the best of circumstances. There are certain regions, termed hells, where the conditions are very very painful, and where certain powerful malignant beings amuse themselves by teasing and harassing the unfortunate ones who are born there, as men tease bulls and cocks and enjoy their fights. But these conditions are not eternal. The soul that is born in a hell shall one day pass out of it. The reverse of the hells are constituted by heavens, where the conditions-of existence are very very pleasant; but the heavens, too, are no more than regions in the universe. They are no more the pleasure-gardens of a Supreme Ruler Divine than are the hells such a being's torture-houses for his enemies! The happiness and m which the mortals experience in all parts of the wo rior to the final release termed Nirvana, is compara e nly; real happiness is only possible in Nirvana, never outside of it.
•

Page #13

JAINISM
Innumerable Souls already exist in Nirvana; and a very very large number of them obtain release in each cycle of time. But there are four and twenty of this number in each cycle that are termed Tirthamkaras. The word signifies the founder of a tirtha which means a fordable passage across a sea. The Tirthamkaras show the 'fordable path' across the sea of interminable births and deaths. They may be called Teaching Gods. They alone are to be followed, for They alone possess the practical knowledge and have no motives to mislead any one.
The Jaina teaching was imparted at one time only orally. Certain Jainas later on allegorized the teaching of the Science of Salvation as taught by the Tirthamkaras. They were not Tirthamkaras, and failed to see the ultimate consequences of allegorizing of the spiritual cult. The pastime proved very fascinating; all communities and nations copied the early Jaina allegorists. The oldest compilation of allegories constitutes the sacred literature of the Hindus. The Jewish and the Christian sacred literature is also composed in allegorical style.
At first allegory proved very attractive; but later on it became the curse of humanity. The vulgar masses insisted on misinterpreting the mythical conceptions, taking them for real gods and goddesses. The knowers of the truth then had to hide their teaching from the
swine' and the dogs,' from the ‘Sudras' as the Hindus have termed them, for fear of molestation, which was a very real menace. This is why today it is so very very difficult to get at the truth of the various religious doctrines. The misinformed masses managed

Page #14

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
to set up a theory of their own concerning their various religions;, but they comprise mostly only perversions of the real doctrines of the Science of Salvation. The days of superstition being over, men now dare to look into the teaching of their own and others' churches, and, finding them absurd, discard them. The number of those who style themselves 'freethinkers,' rationalists' and the like is daily increasing, and shall continue to do so, inasmuch as the rational mind wants something which must not riolate any of the fundamentals of reason, at least.
Science, or rather the modern sciences, mostly deny the soul's existence itself; some are aguostics, and merely claim not to kuow thether it esist or not. The psychologists are mostly agnostics; but they generally decline to study the subject, and imagine that they can get along, all right enough, without the assumption of a soul. Some who hare studied the nature of knorrledge itself have been forced to admit the soul. It is inconceirable how psychology can erer rank as a science unless it embarks on a comprehensive study of the phenomena of consciousness. If a man said that he was not concerned with anything escept the fittings and wires of electricity and that for his purposes it tas not necessary to assume the existence of a force that worked, through them he could certainly remain an agnostic; but then he would have no right to say that he had studied his subject as a science ought to be studied.
The abore is briefly the outline of the scheme which ' is intended to be presented in this book. At present . it is only like a set of allegations; nothing more. But it is hoped that at least a major portion of what has

Page #15

JAINISM
been set out above will be proved to be credible before the end is reached.
Jainism has thus far remained only in the background in modern times because bitter persecution drove it underground, so to speak, in the past. Some of those who took up its study recently approached the subject from a wrong point of view the linguists--or were unable to lay aside the inborn prejudice of the Western mind against 'heathenism ''collectively. Their opinions' and reports are consequently to be accepted with great caution.

Page #16

CHAPTER 2
RELIGION AS A SCIENCE The term Science is not exclusively to be applied to Physics and Chemistry alone. There may be a science of salvation, too. Anything is a science which is a systematic exposition or explanation of a fact or a set of facts; anything is a science that is capable of verification and of yielding immediate and certain and unvarying results.
Religion is either a fact and grounded on a fact or a bundle of facts; or it is a fiction. There is no other alternative. In the former case it will be amenable to scientific treatment; in the latter it can be only a bundle of useless suppositions and superstitions. Not even inner, or psychic, or psychological or any other kind of experience is an exception or an obstacle to scientific enquiry and exposition. Doctrine, practice, ritual and also inner experience, thus all come under the jurisdiction of science and scientific thought.
Like all sciences Religion proceeds by laying down the first principle of sound common sense that all substance is eternal. Its outlook is realistic as opposed to what may be termed the idealistic view. The world was not created by any one; it is composed of things which are eternal-e.g., souls and atoms of matter. The idea of a creator will be shown to be the outcome of misconceived parabolic teaching. Jainism openly
.

Page #17

RELIGION AS A SCIENCE
denies and has always denied the existence of a creative god. It reduces everything to the iron laws of nature, which also govern the two substances with which it is chiefly concerned, namely, spirit and matter.
What the true Christian views on the subject are will appear from the following:- :
"The sense of the law is to be taken in three ways......either as exhibiting a symbol, or laying down a precept for right conduct, or as uttering a prophecy. But I well know that it belongs to men (of fall age) to distinguish and declare these things..... those who hant after the divine teaching, must approach it with the utmost perfection of the logical faculty."-(Clement Alexandrinus) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 468.
" Whether, then, it be the law which is connate and natural, or that given afterwards, thich is meant, it is certainly of God; and both the law of nature and of instruction are one."-Ibid. p. 470.
"I could bear with her (philosophy's) pretensions, if only she were true to nature, and could prove to me that she has mastery over nature..... "-Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 414.
"For scientific knowledge is necessary both for the training of the soul and for gravity of conduct; making the faithful more active and keen observer of things. For as there is no believing without elementary instruction, 80 nether is there comprehension without science. For what is useful and necessary to salvation, such as [the knowledge of] the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirt, and also of our own soul, are wholly requisite; and it is at once beneficial and necessary to attain to the scientific account of them.”—The Prophetic Scriptures) A.N.C.L. fol. xxiv. p. 126.
" .....Lats which insure happiness to those who live according to them."-(Origen) A.N.C.L. vol. xxin. p. 194.
“We musl, then, search the Scriptures accurately, since they are admitted to be expressed in parables, and from the names hunt out the thoughts which the Holy Spirit, propounding respecting things, teaches by imprinting His mind, so to speak, on the expressions ; that the names used with various meanings, being made the subject of accurate investigation, may be explained, and that that which is hidden

Page #18

8
under many integuments may, being handled and learned, come to light and gleam forth. For so also lead turns white when you rub it..... So also scientific knowledge [gnosis], shedding its light and brightness on things, shows itself to be in truth the divine wisdom, the pure light, which illumines the men whose eyeball is clear, unto the sure vision and comprehension of truth."-Ibid. vol. xxiv. p. 127.
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
It is thus clear that the real knowers who were familiar with the secret teaching knew it to be in agreement with the nature of things and completely scientific. Clement's contempt for anything which is not in agreement with the nature of things is evident from his opinion quoted above. The truth is hidden behind proper names- -the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost and the like. Those who have read them literally have therefore only misdirected themselves.
In the following pages we shall insist on retaining this scientific turn of mind throughout.
It may be mentioned that Jainism regards the world from what may be termed the standpoint of Realism; and Christianity takes the same view:
""
The Epicureans, again, show still greater consistency in maintaining that all the senses are equally true in their testimony, and always so only in a different way. It is not our organs of sensation that are at fault, but our opinion. The senses only experience sensation, they do not exercise opinion; it is the soul that opines."— (Tertullianus) A.N.C L. vol. xv. p. 445.

Page #19

CHAPTER 3
ALLEGORY
The founders of the New Testament did not set down their doctrine in plain language; they deliberately concealed it behind allegory and myth and laconicity and incoherence. They were afraid to speak out openly. The 'swine' and the 'dog' Tere in power, and very intolerant. Stoning was the penalty for what they considered to be blasphemy against their god.
Whosoever will read the Bible and forget that the N. II. was written by men who were afraid for their own and their followers' lives and therefore dared not speak openly will not understand the science of Salvation and the majesty of Truth hidden in its pages. One can, no doubt, force oneself to believe anything, but there is a limit even to blind faith, and reason is sure to rebel against it some day. This is why Christianity has lost its hold on the hearts of men and women in the West.
The following extracts will amply demonstrate the fact of the Christian Scripture being couched in allegorical language:
" Cast not your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn and rend you." Matt. vii, 6.
" It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it unto the dogs.”—Mark vii. 27.
"But without a parable spake he not unto them."-Mark iv. 34.
"And he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.”—Luke viii. 10.

Page #20

10
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
These are all in the Gospels. Many a time is the statement made in the gospels that the apostles themselves did not understand what ras preached to them. Their understanding had to be opened again and again, to carry illumination to their minds.
I shall not give extracts from the writings of the early fathers of the Christian Church to show how they felt in the matter:
" Then Peter snid ...... You seem to me not to know what a father and & God is : but I could tell you both thence souls aro, and when and how they were mado; but it is not permitted to me not to disclose thesc things to you, who are in such crror in respect of the knowledge of God."-A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 232.
“......God has veiled his truth.......hc discloses it to those who faithfully follow him."-.-Jbid. p. 270.
" Then Peter said: 'Since thercfore you assert that you are willingly awako through desire of hearing, I wish to repeat to you moro carefully, and to explain in their order, thic things that were spoken yesterday without arrangement. And this I propose to do throughout these daily disputations, that by night, when privacy of time and place is afforded, I shall unfold in correct order, and by a straight line of explanation, anything that in the controversy bas not been stated with suflicient fullness.' And then lic began to point out to us how yosterday's discussion ought to havo been conducted, and how it could not be so conducted on account of the contentiousness or the upskilfulness of his opponent; and hors thereforo he only. made use of assertion, and only overthror what was said by his adversary, but did not expound his own doctrines either completely or distinctly. Then repeating the several matters to us, he discussed them in regular order and with full reason."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. in. pr. 259-254.
"Meantime Peter rising......thus began......' Nothing is more difficult, my brethren, than to reason concerning the truth in the presence of a mixed multitude of people. For that which is may not be spoken to all as it is, on account of those who hear wickedly and treacherously; yet it is not proper to deceive, on account of those

Page #21

ALLEGORY
11
who desire to bear the truth sincerely. What, then, shall be do who has to address a mixed multitude? Shall he conceal what is true? How, then, shall be instruct those who are worthy? But if he set forth pure truth to those who do not desire to obtain salvation, he does injury to Him by whom he has been sent, and from whom he has received commandment not to throw the pearls of his words before swine and dogs, who, striving against them with arguments and sophisms, roll them in the mud of carnal understanding, and by their barkings and base answers break and weary the preachers of God's word. Wherefore I also, for the most part, by using a certain circumlocution, endeavour to avoid publishing the chief knowledge concerning the Supreme Divinity to unworthy ears.' Then, begin. ning from the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, he briefly and plainly expounded to us, so that all of us hearing him wondered that men have forsaken the truth, and have turned themselves to vanity."-A.N.C.L. vol. in. p. 240.
“Knowing, my brother, your eager desire after that which is for the advantage of us all, I beg and beseech you not to communicate to any one of the Gentiles the books of my preachings which I sent to you, nor to any one of our own tribe before trial; but if any one has been proved and found worthy, then to commit them to him, after the manner in which Moses delivered (his books) to the Seventy who succeeded to his chair ..... For, according to the rule delivered to them, they endeavour to correct the discordances of the Scriptures, if any one, haply not knowing the traditions, is confounded at the various utterances of the prophets. Wherefore they charge no one to teach, unless he has first learned how the Scriptures must be used."-(Cle. mentine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 1.
"In order, therefore, that the like may also happen to those among us as to these Seventy, give the books of my preachings to our brethren, with the like mystery of initiation, that they may in. doctrinate those who wish to take part in teaching; for if it be not so done, our word of truth will be rent into many opinions."-Ibid.
p. 1.
“Therefore James, having read the epistle, sent for the elders ; and having read it to them, said: 'Our Peter has strictly and becom. ingly charged us concerning the establishing of the truth, that we should not communicate the books of his preachings, Thich have

Page #22

12
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
been sent to us, to any one at random, but to one who is good and religious, and who wishes to teach, and who is circumcised, and faithful. And these are not all to be committed to him at once; that, if he be found injudicious in the first, the others may not be entrusted to him. Whereforè let him be proved not less than six years.' And let him say I take witness to heaven, carth, water, in which all things are comprehended, and in addition to all these, that air also which pervades all things, and without which I cannot breathe, that I shall always be obedient to him who gives me the books of the preachings; and those same books which he may give me, I shall not communicate to any one in any way, either by writing them, or giving them in writing, or giving them to a writer, either myself or by another, or through any other initiation, or trick, or method, or by keeping them carelessly, or placing them before (any one) or granting him permission (to see them), or in any way or manner whatsoever communicating them to another; unless I shall ascertain one to be worthy, as I myself have been judged, or even more so, and that after a probation of not less than six years; but to one who is religious and good, chosen to teach, as I have received them, so I will commit them, doing these things also according to the will of my bishop. But otherwise, though he were my son or my brother, or my friend, or otherwise in any way, pertaining to me by kindred, if he be unworthy, that I will not vouchsafe the favour to him, as is not meet; and I shall neither be terrified by plot nor mollified by gifts. But if even it should ever seem to me that the books of the preachings given to me are not true, I shall not so communicate them, but shall give them back. And when I go abroad, I shall carry them with me, whatever of them I happen to possess. But if I be not minded to carry them about with me, I shall not suffer them to be in my house, but shall deposit them with my bishop, having the same faith.... (Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 5.
117
"And if one say that it is written,' "There is nothing secret which shall not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed (Luke vii, 16; xi. 33) "let him also hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall be manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is veiled shall be disclosed, as truth; and

Page #23

ALLEGORY
13
what is hidden to the many, shall appear manifest to the few. For why do not all know the truth? Why is not righteousness loved, if righteousness belongs to all ? But the mysteries are delivered mystically, that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in his voice, but in his understanding."-A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 356.
"And we profess not to explain secret things sufficiently-far from it—but only to recall them to memory, whether we have forgot anght, or whether for the purpose of not forgetting. Many things, I well know, have escaped us, through length of time, that have dropped away unwritten. Whence, to aid the weakness of my memory, and provide for myself a salutary help to my recollection in a systematic arrangement of chapters, I necessarily make use of this form. There are then some things of which we have no recollection ; for the power that was in the blessed men was great. There are also some things which remained unnoted long, which have now escaped ; and others which are effaced, having faded away in the mind itself, since such a task is not easy to those not experienced; these I revive in my commentaries. Some things I purposely omit, in the exercise of a wide selection, afraid to write what I guarded against -speaking : not grudging-for that were wrong-but fearing for my readers, lest they should stumble by taking them in a wrong sense; and, as the proverb says, we should be found reaching a sword to a child.'... .. Some things my treatise will hint; on some it will linger; some it will. merely mention. It will try to speak imperceptibly, to exhibit secretly, and to demonstrate silently."-Ibid. p. 357.
“But since this tradition is not published alone for him who perceives the magnificence of the word; it is requisite, therefore, to. hide in a mystery the wisdom spoken, which the Son of God taught. Now, therefore, Isiah the prophet has his tongue purified by fire, so that he may be able to tell the vision. And we must purify not the tongue also, but also the ears, if we attempt to be partakers of the truth.
" ......Such were the impediments in the way of my writing, And even now I fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before swine, lest they tread them under foot, and turn and rend us.' For it is difficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting the true light, to svinish and untrained hearers. For scarcely could

Page #24

14
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
anything which they could hear be more ludicrous than-these to the multitude; nor any subjects on the other hand more admirable or more inspiring to those of noble nature. But the natural main receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him.' But the wise do not utter with their mouth what they reason in council . . . But there is only a delineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sowed sparse and broadcast, that it may escape the potice of those who pick up seeds like jackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will germinate and produce corn."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 388.
"But well knowing that the Saviour teaches nothing in a merely human way, but teaches all things to his own with divine and mystic wisdom, we must not listen to His utterances carnally; but with due investigation and intelligence must search out and learn the meaning hidden in them. For even those things which seem to have been simplified to the disciples by the Lord Himself are found to require not less, even more, attention than what is expressed enigmatically, from the surpassing superabundance of wisdom in them. And whereas the things which, are thought to have been explained by Him to those within—those called by Him the children of the kingdom- require still more consideration than the things which seem to have been expressed simply, and respecting which therefore no questions were asked by those who heard them, but which, pertaining to the entire design of salvation, and to be contemplated with admirable and supercelestial depth of mind, we must not receive superficially with our ears, but with application of the mind to the very spirit of the Saviour, and the unuttered meaning of the declaration."-(Clement of Alexandria) A.N.C.L. vol. xxii. pt. ii. pp. 190-191.
"The STROMATA will contain the truth mixed up in the dogmas of philosophy, or rather covered over and hidden, as the edible part of the nut in the shell. For, in my opinion, it is fitting that the seeds of truth be kept for the husbandman of the faith, and no others."-(Olement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 359.
"It sufficeth the gnostic ... if only one bearer 15 found for him. You may hear therefore Pindar who writes, 'Divulge not before all the ancient speech.' The way of silence is sometimes the surest. And the mightiest word is a spur to the fight."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. P. 383.
171

Page #25

15
very many events are figuratively predicted by means of enigmas and allegories and parables, and they must be understood in a sense different from the literal description."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. v. p. 126.
"And with us, indeed, who have had handed down from our forefathers the... mystery of the books which are able to deceive (Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 58.
... truth lies hidden veiled in obscurity.. "'-(Lactantius) A.N.C.L. vol. xx. p. 2.
ALLEGORY
The above are quite sufficient as furnishing conclusive evidence of the N. T. documents being couched deliberately in deceptive language. It is not very likely, therefore, that what was carefully and painstakingly covered over to deceive all kinds of men and what could not be understood except under secret private instruction by the chosen and instructed few could be clear to those who read the records in their literal sense.
Allegory is not a new thing; nor was it started for the first time by the Christians. I think the people known as the Hindus today are the oldest allegorists. The Greeks and the Jews, too, had their own allegories, the significance of which was known to only a few individuals who learnt it at what was called initiation. As regards the former, we have the following clear statement in one of the volumes of the Ante N.C.L. :—
"All the literature among the Greeks which is written on the subject of the origin of antiquity, is based upon many authorities, but especially two, Orpheus and Hesiod. Now their writings are divided into two parts, in respect of their meaning, that is, the literal and the allegorical; and the vulgar crowd had flocked to the literal, but all the eloquence of the philosophers and learned men is expended in admiration of the allegorical."-(Niceta) A.N.C.L. vol. ii. p. 445.

Page #26

16
Here are a few of the allegorical conceptions of the Greeks:
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
44
Juno is chastity,.. Venus lust, "Ibid. pp. 448 & 451.
Paris the understanding
And Hercules, who slew the serpent which led and guarded riches, is the true philosophical reason which, free from all wickedness, wanders all over the world, visiting the souls of men, and chastising all it meets, namely, men like fierce lions or timid stags, or savage boars, or multiform hydras. "-(Reference to Appion's speech in the Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 124.
...
64
Cupid is desire,
....
With reference to the Jewish Scriptures also it was well known that their language was allegorical. shall only give one quotation from Tertullian who says about the disciples of philosophy who pervert the scriptural text to their own ends:
... and ambitious of glory and eloquence alone, if they fell upon anything in the collection of scriptures which displeased them, in their own peculiar style of research, they perverted it to their own purposes for they had no adequate faith in their divinity to keep them from changing them, nor had they any sufficient understanding of them either, as being still at the time under veil-even obscure to the Jews themselves, whose peculiar possession they seemed to be."(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xl. p. 131.
In the Jewish books themselves it is repeatedly pointed out that the scriptures are not to be understood in their plain sense, and Philo Judæus is one of those who tried to lift the veil of allegory from some portions of the sacred writings. He was followed by Moses Maimonides, who, however, declined to reveal certain secrets, e.g., the mystery of creation, fully, but did so only by semi-obscure hints and suggestions.
Here are a few of the allegorical symbols with their explanations: (with reference to the raising of Lazarus) "This takes place in the heart of the penitent: when

Page #27

ALLEGORY
17
29
....
thou hearest a man is sorry for his sins he has already come to life; when thou hearest him lay bare his conscience in compassion, he is already drawn forth from the tomb, but he is not yet loosed. When is he loosed, and by whom is he loosed? Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth,' he says, 'shall be loosed in heaven.' Forgiveness of sins may justly be granted by the church: but the dead man himself cannot be aroused except by the Lord crying within him."-(Penitential Discipline in the Early Church, page 97.) The "time of marriage . . . is the manifestation of the world to come (Recog. Clement: A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 403); " and it was this which was signified by the dumbness-of Zacharias.... that the Word . . might break the mystic silence of the prophetic A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 125). signifies pleasure (Ibid. p. 100); express simplicity (Ibid. p. 125); the symbol of untroubled tranquillity (Ibid. p. 237); . . . locusts and honey (signify) sweet and spiritual fare (Ibid. p. 261); . . . to open... (the) eyes... (is) to turn from darkness into light (Ibid. p. 414); . debt is. ... a figure of guilt (A. N. C. L. vol. xi. p. 185); desire. . . . the venom of the serpent (Apocryphal Gospels: A. N. C. L. vol. xvi. p. 326); . . . . death is the condemnation of souls for their deserts to eternal punishment" (Lactantius: A. N. C. L. vol. xxi. p. 122).
99
Death and sudden death have the signification assigned to them in the following quotation from Clement's Writings, A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 115:—
enigmas (Clement:
Serpent allegorically lambs... the crown is
"C
"And the Instructor, as I think, very beautifully says, through F. 2

Page #28

18
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
Moses : 'If any one die suddenly by him, straightway the head of has consecration shall be polluted, and shall be shaved' (Num. vi. 9), designating involuntary sin as sudden death. And he says that it pollutes by defiling the soul : wberefore He prescribes the cure with all speed, advising the head to be instantly sbaven; that is, -counselling the locks of ignorance which shade the reason to be shorn cleap off, that reason (whose seat is the brain), being left bare of the depse stuff of vice, may speed its way to repentance. Then after a few remarks, He adds The days before are not reckoned irrational' (Nom. v. 2), by which manifestly sins are meant which are contrary to reason. The involuntary act He calls 'sudden,' the sin be calle
irrational.' Wherefore the Word, the Instructor, has taken charge of us, in order to the prevention of sin, which is contrary to rеаѕоn."
"(To) see God ....is .... to enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Lactantius: A. N. C. L. vol. xxii. p. 199); . . . . matter is allegorically called water, the abyss (Prophetic Scriptures :. A. N. C. L. vol. xxiv. p. 117); .... fowls of the air .... (are) divine angels and lofty souls (Fragments: A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 156).
The last day' signifies as far as possible in this world,' " which is what he means by the last day, and which is preserved until the time that it shall end " (Clement: A. N. C. L. vol. iv. p. 134). The reference is to the end of the world' which will be explained in a more appropriate place subsequently.
Concerning the Lamb, we have it that it signifies, in figurative language, simplicity. Clement (A. N. C. L. vol. iv. p. 125) says:--" And that He also calls us lambs .... using the figurative appellation of lambs, which are still more tender than sheep, to express simplicity."
On page 130 of the fourth volume of the A. N. C. L.,

Page #29

ALLEGORY
19
referred to, he again says, with reference to the Lamb of God:
"For since Scripture calls the infant children lambs, it has also called Him God the Word who became man for our sakes, and who wished in all points to be made like usm Lamb of God -Him, namely, that is the Son of God, the child of the Father."
The Word is also figuratively described as “ meat and flesh, and food, and bread, and blood, and milk.", -(Clement: A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 145.) “ The Lord is all these to those who believe on Him. ----(Ibid. p. 145.) “ And the true and holy meat was a right faith and unspotted conscience."--(Novatian on the Jewish Meats: A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 390.) Novatian also tells us : “ The meat, I say, true, and holy, and pure, is a true faith and unspotted conscience, and an innocent soul. Whosoever is thus fed, feeds also with Christ. Such a banqueter is God's guest; these are the feasts that feed the angels." -Ibid. pp. 391-392.
The significance of the terms clean and unclean' used with reference to meats will be apparent from the following:
“For we must consider how the Lord distinguishes clean and not clean. The creatures that are clean, it says, both chew the cud and divide the hoof; the unclean do neither, or only one of the two. ... What, then, is the case? In the animals it is the characters and doings, and wills of men that are depicted. They are clean if they chew the cud; that is, if they ever have in their mouth 88 food divine precepts. They divide the hoof, if with the firm step of in. Docency they tread the ways of righteousness, and of every virtue of life. For of those creatures which divide the foot into two hoofs the walk is always vigorous; the tendency to slip of one part of the hoof being sustained by the firmness of the other, and so retained in the substantial footstep. Thus' they who do neither are unclean, whose

Page #30

20
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
walk is neither firm in virtues ; nor do they digest the food of the divine precepts after the manner of that chewing of the cud. And they, too, who do one of these things are not themselves clean either, inasmuch as they are maimed of the other, and not perfect in both. And these are they who either do both, as believers, and are clean; or one of the two, as Jews and heretics, and are blemished; or neither, as the Gentiles, and are consequently unclean."--(Novatian on the Jewish Meats) A.N.C.L. vol. xiii. p. 387.
Other references on the same point are available but they are omitted here.
With reference to the interpretation of the Apocalypse, Victorinus (the martyr) throws interesting light on a portion of the allegory (see A. N. C. L. vol. xviii. pp. 394396):
" And from the seven spirits which are before Hus throne.' We read of a sevenfold spirit in Isaiah (Isaiah xi. 2),--namely, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.' ...
And He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle'... the golden girdle bound around his breast indicates the enlightened conscience, and pure and spiritual apprehension that is given to the churches...
H18 feet were like unto yellow brass, as if burned in a furnace.' ...'We will worship in the place where His feet lave stood.' "Ps. cxxxii. 7.
It will be noticed that allegory has not, beyond mere poetical excellence, any further claim on our appreciativeness. As a matter of fact, it is a thing to be condemned whole-heartedly, for all our troubles and misunderstandings are mostly due to its baneful influence. The founders of the New Testament and the early 'fathers,' it may be taken, were quite alive to its dangers; but they were powerless to turn the thoughts of men, and had to fall back in the very grove from which they sought to escape. St. Paul laments his

Page #31

ALLEGORY
inability to speak boldly in the Epistle to Ephesians (chap. vi. 19—21):
“ And for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospels, for wbich I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother, and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things."
The early 'fathers' openly condemned allegory; in the Clementine Homilies the passion for allegorizing is described as a disease of the understanding: -
“ But we should confute the allegories, if we were there, the foolish passion for wbich has prevailed to such an extent as to constitute a disease of the understanding."-A.N.C.L. vol. svii. p. 168.
The condemnation of the Greek allegories is equally emphatic (Ibid. p. 124):
" For either these things are not riddles, but crimes of gods, in which case they should not have been exposed to contempt, nor should these their deeds have been set before men at all as models, or things falsely attributed to the gods were set forth in allegory, and then, Appion, they whom you call wise erred, in that, by concealing under unworthy stories things in themselves Torthy, they led men to sin, and that not without dishonouring those whom they enticed to the
gods."
St. Paul perceived that the time was coming when men would reject the true doctrine and be turned unto fables (2 Tim. iv. 3-4). He candidly advised Timothy not to give heed to fables and “ endless genealogies" (1 Tim. i. 4) and to refuse profane and old wives' tales (Ibid. iv. 7). Nevertheless open speech was out of the question, as it would have meant sure death of the preacher and the congregation both, and a persecution of the whole community of the faithful, Novatian, too,

Page #32

22
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
urges : “ Therefore as you run, I exhort you; and ... as you press ' in your courge to the prize of your calling in Christ,' I urge you on,—that, treading under foot and rejecting as well the sacrilegious calumnies of heretics as also the idle fables of Jews, you may hold the sole word and teaching of Christ...."-A.N.C. L. vol. xiii. p. 383.
It would seem that there was a secret Key of Knowledge which was very probably unwritten at first, but later on reduced to writing, in part. It was this which was imparted to those fully trusted by the heads of the movement; and it was this which was lost but again reconstructed about the time of the origin of Christianity. In the Gospels themselves there is a mention of this Key of Knowledge :
"Woe unto ye lawyers ! ye have taken away the key of know. ledge : you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."-Luke xi. 52.
In the “Fathers” one may also read :
“Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will declare to you.'-(Deut. xxxii. 7.) This father, these elders onght to be enquired of. But you have not enquired whose is the time of the kingdom, and whose is the seat of prophecy, though He Himself points out Himself, saying, 'The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; all things whatsoever they say unto you, hear them.'(Matt. xxii. 2.) Hear them He said, as entrusted with the key of the kingdom, thich is knowledge, which alone can open the gate of life, through which alone is the entrance to eternal life. But truly, He says, they possess the key, but those wishing to enter they do not suffer to do so."-(Clementine Homilies : A.N.C.L. xvii. p. 61.)
In fact, there is actually a reference in part ii of volume xxii (among the “ Fragments of Melito '') on pages 135—139 to a key, the heading of the section in

Page #33

ALLEGORY
23
question being "From the Key." This section is devoted to the secret significance of metaphors such as the following:
"
Head of the Lord-His simple Divinity;
The eyelids of the Lord-bidden spiritual mysteries in the divine precepts;
The smelling of the Lord-His delight in the prayers or works of saints; the fingers of the Lord-the prophets;
The heavens-('I will regard the heavens') the books of the law and the prophets;
The feet of the Lord-immoveableness and eternity;
The throne of the Lord-angels or saints on simply sovereign dominion;
The ascent of the Lord-the raising up of man, who is taken from earth to heaven;
The sleeping of the Lord-"When in the thoughts of some, His faithfulness is not sufficiently wakeful."
Under the circumstances all that could be done was to explain as much of the teaching of truth as could be done by means of hints and innuendoes with the safeguard of laconicity and incoherence. It is said in the twelfth volume of the A. N. C. L. series (Clement's Writings) on p. 472: "For it is not required to unfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is sufficient for those who are partakers in knowledge to bring it to mind." Moses Maimonides, too, urges, several centuries after Clement, the same procedure (see The Guide for the Perplexed, 251), when he says: .... a person favoured by Providence to understand these mysteries is forbidden by Law to teach them, except viva voce, and on the condition that the pupil possess certain qualifications, and even then only the heads of the sections may be communicated. This has been the cause why knowledge has entirely disappeared from our
<<
"

Page #34

24
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
dation, and nothing has remained of it.” Hippolytus, too, says (A. N. C. L. is. pt. ii. p. 18): “ These things, beloved, we impart to you with fear, and yet readily on account of the love of Christ which surpasscth all. For if the blessed prophets tho preceded us did not choose to proclaim these things, though they knew them, openly and boldly, 'lest they should disquiet the souls of men, but recounted them mystically in parables and dark sayings, .... how much greater risk shall re run in venturing to declare openly things spoken by them in obscure terms."
This, then, was the practice adopted to safeguard the interests of the knowers of truth: only hints and suggestions, calculated to throir off prying intruders, and, of course, with them, also the true seekers, but no open statement or a plain declaration of the matter of the faith! This is the reason why Christianity like all other systems of mystic mythology has been completely misunderstood by men. The untrained merely read the books for a confirmation of what they thought was the truth and were pleased with their readings, knowing nothing of the fact that that they held to be the fundamentals of the truth were really as ride apart from it as the poles.
But the writers took a great deal of care to throw elucidating light from every bit of cover arailable to them. Two things they were not at liberty to explain, 'namely, the mystery of God, that is to say, that mad himself could become God, and the tenet of transmigration. Origen, one of the most enlightened of the Apostolic Fathers who dared boldly to declare the truth of the latter doctrine, was accused of blasphemy by

Page #35

ALLEGORY
21h
Christians themselves! These doctrines were not acceptable to the masses in any case; because they clashed too violently with their cherished vulgarities and superstitions. They believed in the existence of one God whom they regarded as the creator and the manager of the world, and the godhood of man and the doctrine of transmigration of souls set entirely at nought the dignity of this supposed creator and denied his creative and managing functions. But short of this they did not mind what else a man said or declared, and thus treated all mystic half-truths as mere effusions of god-intoxicated souls.
The mystics have left careful instructions for the reading of the scriptural text which are very helpful, if one be an earnest seeker, Clements tells us (A. N. C. L. vol. iv. p. 361):
“Philosophy came into existence, not on its own account, but for the advantages reaped by us from knowledge, we receiving a firm persuasion of true perception, through the knowledge of things comprehended by the mind. For I do not mention that the Stromata, forming a body of varied erudition, wish artfully to conceal the seed of knowledge. As, then, he who 18 fond of hunting captures the game after seeking, tracking, scenting, hunting it down with dogs; 80 truth, when sought and got with toil, appears a delicious thing. Wby, then, you will ask, did yon think it fit that such an arrange. ment should be adopted in your memoranda ? Because there is great danger in divulging the secret of the true pbilosopby to those whose delight it is unsparingly to speak against every thing ..."
Clement again turns to the subject a little later (Ibid. p. 375):
" Some who think themselves naturally gifted, do not wish to touch either philosophy or logic; day more, they do not wish to learn natural science. They demand bare faith alone, as if they wished, without bestowing any care on the vine, straightway to gather

Page #36

26
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
clusters from the first. Nor the Lord is figuratively described as the vine, from which, with poing and the art of Lusbandry, accord. ing to the word, the fruit is to be gathered."
In the same volume it is again said (see p. 468): ".... those who hunt after the conception of the divine teaching, must approach it with the utmost perfection of the logical faculty.”.
Cyprian also points out (A. N. C. L. vol. xiii. p. 384):--
"For diving things must be difinely received, and must assured. ly be maintained as holy. But a grase fault is branded on those who attach earthly and human doctrine to sacred and spiritual words; and this we must beware of doing."
It follows from this that those who interpret the various mythologies and allegories as expressions of physical forces or such unholy unspiritual things as the digestive juices and the like, talk irrelevantly. To other interpretation than that, then, which is relevant to the subject of religion, is admissible. We may at once brush aside such conceptions of the uninitiated as that which holds that the birth and death of vegetation is the true import of the mystery of the resurrection. As Tertullian shots (A.N.C.L. vol. fr. p. 221): “ Divine reason . . . . lies in the very pith and marrow of things, not on the surface, and very often is at variance with appearance." We are also told by Tertullian (A. N. C. L. vol. xviii. pp. 76-77):
“We, however, who do not make the parables the sources whence We devise our subject matters, but the subject-matter the sources whence we interpret the fables, do not labour bard, cither to tsist all things (into shape) in the exposition, while we take care to avoid all contradictions."

Page #37

27
"But it is more to the point that it 18 not lawful to draw conclusions about anything else than the subject which was immediately in hand."-Ibid. p. 80.
ALLEGORY
It will be noticed that it was forbidden actually to make an appeal in discussion to the Scriptures, as will be seen from the following quotation, the reason being that allegorical allusions could not possibly lead to satisfactory results in a debate:
"
-
Appeal, in discussion of heresy, lies not to the Scriptures. The Scriptures in fact belong only to those who believe, or have the Rule of Faith. . . . Our appeal, therefore, must not be made to the Scriptures; nor must controversy be admitted on points in which victory will either be impossible, or uncertain, or not certain enough."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. pp. 21-22.
The truth of the Biblical teaching will, then, be deemed to have been attained only when the subject ́matter the Science of Salvation-shall be the source and the basis of the explanations and elucidations reached, and when a perfectly consistent, natural, noncontradictory and self-contained theory shall have been revealed as underlying the general scheme of the teaching. This we shall endeavour to attain to in the following pages.

Page #38

CHAPTER 4
IMMORTALITY
The Jaina doctrine about Immortality is this that the soul is a substance and that it is a simple thing as distinguished from a compound. Compounds are perishable, but not so simple things. The idea of death or destruction is only this: that a compound is dissolved into its component parts, but there is no destruction or vanishing of the parts (i.e., of the ultimate particles) themselves. The views of early Christianity are given below:
"And these (objects formed) of one (substance) were immortal, for (in their case) dissolution does not follow, for what is one will never be dissolved. These (objects) on the other hand, which are formed out of two, or three, or four (substances) are dissoluble; wherefore also are they named mortal. For this has been denominated Death, namely, the dissolution of connected (bodies)."-(Hippolytos, vol. i) A.N.C.L. vol. vi. p. 394.
"Nor is there at all any composite thing, and creature endowed with sensation, of the sort in heaven."—(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 242.
"... That the Soul is a substance is proved in the following manner. In the first piace the definition given to the term substance suits it very well. And that definition us to the effect, that substance is that which, being ever identical, and ever one in point of numeration with itself 18 yet capable of taking on contraries in succession. And that this soul without passing the limits of its own proper nature takes on contraries in succession, is, I fancy, clear to every. body.... And in the second place, because if the body is a substance, the soul must also be a substance. For it cannot be
28

Page #39

IMMORTALITY
that what only has life imparted should be a substance, and that what imparts the life should be no substance. . . . "-(Gregory Thaumaturgus) A.N.C.L. vol. XX. p. 115.
“.... The Soul. . being incorporeal is simple; since thus it is both uncompound and indivisible into parts. It follows in my opinion, as a necessary consequence that what is simple is immortal. . . and what is subject to dissolution is compound; consequently the soul being simple and not being made up of diverse parts, but being un. compound and indissoluble, must be, in virtue of that, incorruptible and immortal."-Ibid.
“ Therefore that which is simple, and which is without any of these things by which that which subsists can be dissolved, is without doubt incomprehensible and infinite, knowing neither beginning nor end, and therefore is one and alone, and subsisting without an author. But that which is compound is subject to number, and diversity, and division,-is necessarily compounded by some author, and is a diversity collected into one species."-(Niceta : Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ill. p. 365.
"That substance which by its departure causes the living being to die is a corporeal substance. Again, there is nothing in common between things corporeal and things incorporeal as to their susceptibility. But the soul certainly sympathizes with the body, and shares in its pain, whenever it is injured by bruises, and wounds, and sores : the body, too, suffers with the soul, and is united with it (whenever it 16 afflicted with anxiety, distress, or love) in the loss of vigour which its companion sustains, whose shame and fear it testi. fies by its own blushes and paleness. The soul, therefore, is (proved to be) corporeal from this inter-communion of susceptibility." (Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 419.
" It is essential to a firm faith, to declare with Plato that the soul is simple; in other words, uniform and uncompounded; simply, that is to say, in respect of its substance."-Ibid. p. 430.
"We, however, claim this operation) for the soul, which we acknowledge to be an indivisible simple substance, and therefore we must call it spirit in a definite sense--not because of its condition, but of its action; not in respect of its nature, but of its operation; because it respires, and not because it 18 spirit in any special sense."Ibid. p. 433.

Page #40

30
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"But (you will say) he was cut off by death as men are. Not (Christ) himself; for it is impossible either that death should befall what is divine, or that that should waste away and disappear in death which 18 one (in its substance), and not compounded, nor form. ed by bringing together any parts."—(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 51.
44
Spirit is a substance, subtle, immaterial, and which 18sues forth without form."-(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 175.
16
...
יד
•
What is God? God,' as the Lord saith, is a Spirit.' Now spirit is properly substance, incorporeal, and, uncircumscribed. And that is incorporeal which does not consist of a body, or whose existence 18 not according to breadth, length, and depth. And that is uncircumscribed which has no place, which is wholly in all, and in each entire, and the same in itself."-Ibid. pp. 176-177.
Even the souls of the wicked are unperishing:.
61
•
or
Wherefore arise, and understand your salvation. For God is in need of no one, nor does He require anything, nor 18 He hurt, by anything; but we are either helped or hurt, in that we are grateful ungrateful. For what does God gain from our praises, or what does He lose by our blasphemies? Only (this we must remember), that God brings into proximity and friendship with Himself the soul that renders thanks to Him. But the wicked demon possesses the ungrateful soul."(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. i. pp. 319-320.
"But if any persist in impiety till the end of life, then as soon as the soul, which is immortal, departs, it shall pay the penalty of its persistence in impiety. For even the souls of the impious are immortal, though perhaps they themselves would wish them to end with their bodies."-Ibid. p. 320.
"All souls are immortal, even those of the wicked, for whom it were better that they were not deathless. For, punished with the endless vengeance of quenchless fire, and not dying, it is impossible for them to have a period put to their misery."-(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 163.
44
Being thus single,' simple, and entire in itself, it is as incapable of being composed and put together from external constituents

Page #41

as it is of being divided in and of itself, inasmuch as it is indissoluble. For if it had been possible to construct it and to destroy it, it would no longer be immortal. Since, however, it is not mortal, it is also incapable of dissolution and division."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 438.
46
...
Consequently, as the spirit neither of God nor of the devil is naturally planted with a man's soul at his birth, this soul must evidently exist apart and alone, previous to the accession to it of either spirit: if thus apart and alone, it must also be simple and uncompounded as regards its substance; and therefore it cannot respire from any other cause than from the actual condition of its own substance."-Ibid. p. 435.
And it was distinctly understood that the soul was not a part of any one, e.g., a god, and was not made by any one.
64
IMMORTALITY
But it is not as a portion of God that the spirit is in each "-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 273.
But God has no natural relation to us, ... neither on the supposition of His having made us of nothing, nor on that of having -formed us from matter; . . . neither portions of himself.. nor his children .1 But the mercy of God is rich towards pe who are in no respect related to Him."-(Clement, vol. ii.) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 45.
They were misled by what is said in the Book of Wisdom; 'He pervades and passes to all by reason of his purity'; since they did not understand that this was said of Wisdom, which was the first of the creations of God."-Ibid. p. 274.
64
the cause of all error and false opinion is the inability to distinguish in what respects things are common and in what respects they differ. "-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 351.
of us.
31
44
44
The Gnostic will avail himself of dialectics, fixing on the distinction of genera into species, and will master the distinction of existences, till he come to what are primary and simple."-Ibid. p. 350. we have in a former passage stated as a preliminary fact, that the mind is nothing else than an apparatus or instrument of the soul, and that the spirit is no other faculty, separate from the soul,
66
...

Page #42

32
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
but is the soul itself exercised in respiration; although that influence which either God on the one hand, or the devil on the other, has breathed upon it, must be regarded in the light of an additional ele. ment,"> Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. sv. P. 451.
"'Beloved,' says he, 'now are we the sons of God,' not by natural affection, but because we have God as our father. For
it is the greater love that, seeing we have no relationship to God, He nevertheless loves us and calls us His sons. And it hath not yet appeared what we shall be;' that is, to what kind of glory we shall attain. 'For if He shall be manifested, '--that is, if we are made perfect, we shall be like Him,' as reposing and justified, pure in virtue, so that we may see Him' (His countenance) 'as He is,' by comprehension."-A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. pp. 151-152.
Now for the scientific view of the question. There are several facts of observation which leave no room for doubt that there should be a simple substance in us which is responsible for our psychic life. These facts are :
1. Perception will be impossible for a composite substance. Perception must be distinguished from the stimulus, and also from the object. The object is material, the stimulus is composed of matter and energy, but perception is an affection-a sense of awareness in other words, a state of our consciousness. If a state of consciousness could be distributed over the parts of a compound substance, different bits of it would be cognized by different parts of the perceiving thing separately; there would be no part to cognize the whole object, unless you allowed a multitude of criss-cross messages, running at top speed, from one part to all other parts, which would be absurd.
2. The subject of logical deduction must itself be a simple indivisible unit, that is to say, an individual. If the two premises and the conclusion are cognized by

Page #43

IMMORTALITY
33 three different parts of a composite logician,' none of these parts will be in possession of the whole syllogism, 80 that the three limbs of the syllogism will be deprived of their logical coherence and be reduced to bare independent statements, unconnected with the remaining parts. And if you spread out the contents and implications of the two premises and the conclusion over a larger number of parts, the result will be absurd.
3. The sense of complex sentences can only be grasped if the knowing consciousness be unitary. As for instance, the sentence “ London is the largest city in the world” will cease to be a sentence if its words be distributed over a composite perceiving mass; and the utmost bewilderment will be the result if the letters of the words are distributed over again.
4. Certain conceptions are incapable of being distributed, e.g., love, beauty, unity, infinity, which cannot be broken up into parts.
5. Psychic presentation is not a composite mass itself; it is a unity. If I see a crowd of a thousand , men, it is not as if the ideas of a thousand men were pasted and glued together to constitute a crowd picture. There is only one picture in the mind of the whole crowd, and this picture is unbreakable, uncomposed and uncreatable.
6. Long continuous trains of thought, arguments and disputations, will be impossible for a consciousness that is like a stream, and in the absence of an enduring individụal. For a stream is a mere multitude of passing states, every one of which might have its own mental equipment, but it will carry its little bit of immediate experiences with itself and leave nothing behind to be
F. 3

Page #44

34
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCI:
picked up by anybody else. An individunlity that endures, that itself gathers up the past into the present, that retains and remembers and adjusts the past to the future is requisite for long, continuous mental opcrations.
The above facts of observation suffice to show that the thing or substance, l1090 manifestation consciousness is, is not a composite but a simple one in itself, though it is associnted with a composite and compounded body of matter. We shall hare occasion to study tho nature of this association and the laws governing the union and separation of spirit and matter later on. Modern Science has never studied this aspect of tho question. Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are aliko incompetent to deal with the facts and phenomena of consciousness. Within their own jurisdiction, the conclusion that they have not come across that may be termed' soul' apart from matter is correct. The subject belongs to the department of Psychology rather than to any other materialistic science. Those of the psychologists who have studiсd the unitary aspect of life have been compelled, like Mr. Win. McDougall, the Ruthor of " Physiological Psychology" to acknowledge the existence of an imunterial substance performing unitary functions, such as mntter can never perform. Most of the psychologists, lioryever, decline to investigate the subject, and none of these have applied their ininds to the facts noted above. Under these circumstances, it cannot be said that modern science has found that there is no such thing as 'soul.' The point, in reality, has never been in issue in the proper way. The scientists were also misled by dogmatic Theology which

Page #45

IMMORTALITY
35
maintained that the soul was a créated article and that it was absolutely unchanging under any circumstances whatsoever. It will be seen and shown later on, more fully, that soul is affected by matter. So far as religion is concerned, its dictum is not a mere theory; as we shall see later, this theory has been put to practical test repeatedly in innumerable cases and has been justified.

Page #46

34
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
picked up by anybody else. An individuality that endures, that itself gathers up the past into the present, that retains and remembers and adjusts the past to the future is requisite for long, continuous mental operations.
The above facts of observation suffice to show that the thing or substance, whose manifestation consciousness is, is not a composite but a simple one in itself, though it is associated with a composite and compounded body of matter. We shall have occasion to study the nature of this association and the laws governing the union and separation of spirit and matter later on. Modern Science has never studied this aspect of the question. Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are alike incompetent to deal with the facts and phenomena of consciousness. Within their own jurisdiction, the conclusion that they have not come across what may be termed' soul'apart from matter is correct. The subject belongs to the department of Psychology rather than to any other materialistic science. Those of the psychologists who have studied the unitary aspect of life have been compelled, like Mr. Wm. McDougall, the author of " Physiological Psychology" to acknowledge the existence of an immaterial substance performing unitary functions, such as matter can never perform. Most of the psychologists, however, decline to investigate the subject, and none of these have applied their minds to the facts noted above. Under these circumstances, it cannot be said that modern science has found that there is no such thing as 'soul.' The point, in reality, has never been in issue in the proper way. The scientists were also misled by dogmatic Theology which

Page #47

IMMORTALITY
35
maintained that the soul was a created article and that it was absolutely unchanging under any circumstances whatsoever. It will be seen and shown later on, more fully, that soul is affected by matter. So far as religion is concerned, its dictum is not a mere theory; as we shall see later, this theory has been put to practical test repeatedly in innumerable cases and has been justified.

Page #48

CHAPTER 5
KNOWLEDGE
The Jaina view of knotledge is that it is not an immaterial, airy nothing. In reality, soul and knowledge are two words for the same thing. Looked at from tlie point of view of substance, it is termed spirit or soul; looked at from the point of view of awareness' it is knowledge. It is not that knowledge resides in a part of the soul; the soul is pure intelligence and nothing but knowledge, through and through. Ideas do not exist in the soul as so many separate or separable items; they are all parts of a unified whole, inseparable, interpenetrating, intertoren. The entirety of knowledge, in plain terms, Omniscience, resides in the soulsubstance. When the causes which obstruct its manifestation in the case of the embodied soul are removed, then it actually becomes Omniscient.
The true Christian riets on this subject are as follows:
“We, however, affirm that the mind coalesces with the soul, not indeed as being distinct from it in substance, but as being its natural fonction and agent."-A.X.C.L. vol. w. p. 437.
"Ye are the light of the world."-latt. . 14.
“ In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians ü. 3.
"... the Holy Ghost ... shall teach you all things."-John siv. 26.
"For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ; ceither hid, that shall not be known.”—Luke xii. 2.
36

Page #49

KNOWLEDGE
37
" IB e candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed ? and not to be set on a candle-stick? For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear."Mark iv. 21-23.
"The soul, in my opinion, is sensual. Nothing, therefore, pertaining to the soul is unconnected with sense, nothing pertaining to sense is unconnected with the soul."-(Tertullian) A.N.O.L. vol. xv. p. 190.
"... We see, then, that in opposition to the bodily senses another faculty is provided of a much more serviceable character, even the powers of the soul, which produce an understanding of that truth whose realities are not palpable nor open to the bodily senses, but are very remote from men's everyday knowledge, lying in secret-in the heights above, and in the presence of God Himself."-Ibid. p. 450.
"... And Peter said : You do not understand what I mean, Simon. But listen and understand :
'When it is said that the Son will revea) Him to whom te wishes, it is meant that such an one is to learn of Him not by in. struction, but by revelation only. For it is revelation when that which lies secretly veiled in all the hearts of men is revealed (un. veiled) by His (God's) own will without any utterance. And thus knowledge comes to one, not because he has been instructed, but because he has understood.'"-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 278.
"... But He, pronouncing me blessed, pointed out to me that it as the Father who had revealed it to me; and from this time I learned that revelation is knowledge gained without instruction, and without apparition and dreams. And this is indeed the case. For in the (soul) which has been placed in us by God, there is all the truth; but it is covered and revealed by the hand of God, who works so far as each one through his knowledge deserves."-Ibid. p. 271.
"Wherefore He confidently made statements respecting things that are to be-I mean sufferings, places, limits. For being a faultless Prophet, and looking upon all things with the boundless eye of His soul, He knows hidden things. But if we should hold, as many do, that even the true Prophet, not always, but sometimes, when He has the Spirit, and through it, foreknows, but when He has it zot" is ignorant,-if we should suppose thus, we should deceive our

Page #50

38
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
selves and mislead others. For such a matter belongs to those who are madly inspired by the spirit of disorder..."-Ibid. p. 62.
“Then said Peter .. 'But it is impossible for any one except a prophet, who alone has omniscience, to know with respect to the things that are done by any one, which are his own, and which are not; for all are seen as done by him.' "--Ibid. p. 207.
"... For He has shape, and He has every limb primarily and solely for beauty's sake, and not for use. For He has not eyes that He may see with them; for He sees on every side, since He is incomparably more brilliant in H18 body than the visual spirit which is in us, and He is more splendid than everything, so that in comparison with Him the light of the sun may be reckoned as darkness. Nor has He ears that He may hear; for He hears, perceives, moves, energizes, acts on every side. But He has the most beautiful shape on account of man, that the pure in heart may be able to see Him."Ibid. p. 261.
"As to knorrledge, some elements of it we already possess ; others, by what we do possess, we firmly hope [to attain). For neither have we attained all, nor do we lack all. But we have received, as it were, an earnest of the eternal blessings, and of ances. tral riches."-(The Prophetic Scriptures) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 120.
"And knowledge is essentially a contemplation of existences on the part of the soul, either of a certain thing or of certain things, and when perfected of all together ... The Gnostic ... himself comprebends what seems to be incomprehensible to others believing that nothing 18 incomprehensible to the Son of God, whence nothing incapable of being taught." -(Clem. vol. i) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. pp. 343344.
"... For its (the Soul's) knowledge of these things does not come to it from without but it rather sets out these things, as it were, with the adornment of its own thoughts." -(Gregory Thaumaturgas) A.N.C.L. vol. xx. p. 117.
"... But He is a true Prophet, who always knows all things, and even the thoughts of all men, who is without sin, as being convinced respecting the judgment of God. Wherefore we ought not simply to consider respecting His foreknowledge, but whether his foreknowledge can stand, apart from other cause. For physicians predict certain things, having the pulse of the patient as matter submitted

Page #51

KNOWLEDGE
39
to them; and some predict by means of having fowls, and some by having sacrifices, and others by having many various matters submitted to them; yet these are not prophets."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. svi p. 61.
"... But the foreknowledge of the one trne Prophet does not only know things present, but stretches out prophecy without limit as far as the world to come, and needs nothing for its interpretation, not prophesying darkly and ambiguously, so that the things spoken would need another prophet for the interpretation of them; but clearly and simply, as our Master and Prophet, by the inborn and ever-flowing Spirit, always knew all things."-Ibid. pp. 61
62.
" But our Master did not prophesy after this fashion; but, as I have already said, being a prophet by an inborn and ever-flowing Spirit, and knowing all things at all times, He confidently set forth, plainly as I said before, sufferings, places, appointed times, manners, limits."-A.N C.L. vol. xvii. p. 63.
"Wherefore He confidently made statements respecting things that are to be I mean sufferings, places, limits. For, being a faultless Prophet, and looking upon all things with the boundless eye of His soul, He knows hidden things. But if we should bola, as many do, that even the true Prophet, not always, but sometimes, when He has the Spirit, and through it, foreknows, but when He has it not is ignorant,-if we should suppose thus, wo should deceive ourselves and mislead others. For such a matter belongs to those who are madly inspired by the spirit of disorder ..."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 62.
It is interesting to note that a claim was actually made about Buddha that his omniscience was not continuous, and depended upon reflection, as will be evident from the following from the book entitled the “ Milinda-Pañha” (Questions of King Milinda):
"'Venerable Năgasena, was the Buddha omniscient?' 'Yes, O king, he was. But the insight of knowledge was not always and continuously consciously) present with him. The omniscience of the Blessed One was dependent on reflection. But if he did reflect, he

Page #52

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
40
1
knew whatever he wanted to know.' Then, Sir, the Buddha cannot have been omniscient, if this all-embracing knowledge was reached through investigation! 'If so, Great King, our Buddha's knowledge must have been less in degree of fineness than of the other Buddhas. And that is a conclusion hard to draw.'"-(Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxxv. p. 154.)
It was further explained about Buddha that " just as when the mighty king of kings (the chakravarti) calling to mind his glorious wheel of victory wishes it to appear, and no sooner is it thought of than it appears so does the knowledge of the Tathāgata [Buddha], follow continually on reflection."-Ibid. p. 162.
،
The above furnish abundant testimony to the early Christian belief about the nature of knowledge and the soul's capacity in respect thereof. In a mystic way, the fourth Gospel states: "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God." If you substitute' knowledge' for word' and read it like this: "In the beginning was knowledge, and knowledge was with the spirit or soul-substance (which in its pure state is) termed God, and knowledge was itself God," you will find it in accord with the soul-nature immediately.
As for the scientific explanation, the first thing is to know that knowledge cannot be an absolutely airy, immaterial nothing; it is something very subtle, ethereal, elusive; it cannot be a positive non-entity. Is it matter then? No; because matter is possessed of sensible properties, colour, smell, taste, sound and the properties which are known by the sense of touch; but knowledge is not possessed of any tactile properties; it is not hard, smooth, soft, rough, hot, cold, light or heavy; it is not

Page #53

KNOWLEDGE
evil-smelling or pleasant-smelling; it is not sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, acid or insipid; it is not red, yellow, blue, white or black; it is not composed of vowel or consonant sounds, and it is also devoid of length and breadth. Matter offers resistance; two material bodies cannot occupy the same place; but knowledge exists in the same space with matter, without obstructing it or being obstructed by it. Matter is composite; nothing but an atom is a simple thing in itself in the realm of matter. Knowledge is uncomposed. Even when we talk of two ideas they are not two in reality, simply because they occur in succession. If ideas could flow in cohsciousness separately from one another, or exist in the mind' or consciousness as so many separate entities, like coins in a bag, they could not be known. Our ideas are only the states of our consciousness, that is to say, aspects of our consciousness. We know external things through our states of consciousness; in reality,the soul is consciousness itself and its states are only knowledge. If the states of consciousness were separate from consciousness itself, they would themselves have to be known, like external objects, through other states of corisciousness, which would not be separable from the soul.
Two things, therefore, must be kept in mind when studying the nature of knowledge. Firstly, that ideas, howsoever complex, are all simple in themselves, and secondly, that knowledge is inseparable from the knower. Modern psychologists have never adequately studied the nature of knowledge itself. They have, no doubt, analysed, and classified knowledge in regard to its contents very elaborately, but just what knowledge is in

Page #54

42
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
itself has eluded them. When this is the case with Psychology, the other departments of Science are not very likely to have fared better, and indeed they have not; they have been too impatient and hasty in their search.
Would it surprise us to know that the soul should be omniscient? It should not, for what one soul knows all others can know. Whether it knows all things today or not, is not the question. There may be causes which interfere with the manifestation or the realisation of the hidden' infinite knowledge. If it is true that what one soul knows all others can know, then it must be that erery soul has an inherent capacity to know all things known by any one in the past, also all things known by any one today and also all things that ever will be known in the future by any living being. Does it not simply mean knowledge unlimited by time and space, full and complete in respect to all that is knowable? If Soul and Intelligence are interchangeable terms there is absolutely nothing to wonder at in this unlimited .capacity of the soul for knowledge. That this unlimited knorrledge was in the past attained and realised actually by human beings is the theme of every religion worthy of that name. Whether you turn to Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, or any other rational religion, you will find the fact that the Soul is Omniscient by Nature cropping up every now and then, sometimes plainly stated, sometimes under the veil of allegory and mysticism. Jainism differs from all these religions in this, that it does not employ any deceptive allegories. In fact there is only one personification set up in Jainism, namely that of Jina-Bāni (the Speech of God),

Page #55

KNOWLEDGE
4.
'
but it is immediately said to be a personification. Jainism preserves the records of the lives of a number of souls like ourselves who have attained to this inconceivably great attainment, namely, Omniscience.
Perhaps modern Science will still shy at the above statement. Later on when it has realised its own insignificance, as compared with the grandeur 'and majesty of the Science of all Sciences, viz. Salvation, then its eyes will be opened.
Buddha was so struck with the incomparably matchless majesty of Omniscience that he devoted his whole life to its attainment. He had learnt from the example of the Jinas (Perfect Men) that Omniscience could be attained by the severest type of asceticism, and he forthwith applied himself to its attainment. And this is what he said when, after years of the severest ascetical practices, he failed to attain it: “ Not by this bitter course of painful hardships shall I attain to that separate and supreme vision of all-sufficing Aryan knowledge passing human ken, might there not be another path to enlightenment?” The adjectives used convey a very beautiful and exact idea of what he was trying to attain to. It was a separate kind of knowledge altogether; it was of the supreme type, there being nothing higher than that; it was all-sufficing, comprehensive and complete; it was like a vision and not the product of the senses; and, lastly, it could only be attained by the Aryans, not being open to those of low, undeveloped mentality. This was the kind of knowledge Buddha was trying to attain. Years of failure did not shake his faith in the possibility of its attainment. For him it was a l'eality, not, a mere theory; he had actually

Page #56

44
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
seen men who had attained to it! Mahavira, the last Tirthamkara of Jainism, and many others of the most advanced saints were all gifted with this All-sufficing Divine Wisdom, and Mahavira was a senior contemporary of Buddha !
This was one of the things which could not be revealed openly to the masses in the Holy Land who were willing to believe that one spirit could be omniscient, namely their god, but not any others, which unscientific statement prevails in theological circles up to today.
It will pay us to understand that knowledge comes not to us from without; all that comes from outside is matter or motion, not knowledge. What is termed or .considered as knowledge has nothing of matter or motion in it; it is a different kind of thing altogether. If matter or motion were to compose knowledge they could only give us composite pictures, not unitary states of consciousness. And assuming even that a picture is formed somethere, say on some part of the surface of the brain, how is this picture perceived itself? It cannot perceive itself, and if the brain were to perceive it, it could not perceive colours, it could only perceive it by touch as a sensation of touch ; and then the perception will be confined to the surface actually covered by the picture-a very, very small portion of the brain. How would you account for the perception of big landscapes, whole railway trains, huge ocean liners, and so on? The best thing under the circumstances that modern Science can do is to overhaul its old notions, and to recognise once for all that knowledge is merely called forth, not manufactured, not composed,

Page #57

KNOWLEDGE
45
created or distilled in any way. The external stimulus merely gives a knock; a part of the entirety of knowIedge' hears' that knock, and responds to it. For every idea there is a distinct kind of knock. In the case of all embodied souls this knock is necessary. Those who have separated their souls completely from flesh and matter do not stand in need of these knocks; in their case knowledge is set free eternally from the unhappy companionship of matter, and therefore they become omniscient.

Page #58

CHAPTER 6
THE HAPPINESS OF GODS
The Jaina idea of real happiness is this, that the natural condition of the Soul-substance is blissful in itself, so that if the soul rere left to itself and were completely rid of the crippling companionship of matter, it will enjoy eternal unabating, unabated, unending and unendable happiness. Those Perfect Ones who have attained to Nirvana are not living and enjoying unbounded happiness. Sensual pleasure with which we are familiar is an undesirable and cheap substitute for the real happiness which is our birthright.
The Christian views on the subject will appear from the following quotations:
" Be it according to thy faith.'-(Matt. ix. 29.) And where faith is, there is the promise; and the consummation of the promise 18 rest. So that in illumination what we receive 18 knowledge, and the end of knowledge is rest-the last thing conceived as the object of aspiration. As then, inexperience comes to an end by experience, and perplexity by finding & clear outlet, 60 by llumination must darkness disappear. The darkness is ignorance, through which te fall into sins, purblind as to the truth,” (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 134.
“Thou art too dainty, Christian, if thou wouldst have pleasure in this life as well as in the next; nay, & fool thou art, if thou thinkest this life's pleasures to be really pleasures. The philosophers, for instance, give the name of pleasure to quietness and repose; in that they have their bliss; in that they find entertainment; they even glory in it. You long for the goal, and the stage, and the dust, and
46

Page #59

THE HAPPINESS OF GODS
the place of combat! I would have you answer me this question : Can we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die? For what is our wish but the apostle's, to leave the world, and be taken up into the fellowship of the Lord? You have your joys where you have your longings. . . What greater pleasure than distaste of pleasure itself, than contempt for all that the world can give, than true liberty, than & pure conscience, a contented life, and freedom from all fear of death."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 33.
"... (for the serpent allegorically signifies pleasure crawling on its belly, earthly wickedness nourished for fuel to the flames), ..."(Clement of Alexandria) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 100.
"... After that there is no pain, there is no grief, there is no groaning; there is no recollection of evils, there are no tears, there is no envy, there is no hatred of the brethren, there is no unrighteousness, there is no arrogance . . . slander ... bitterness, there are none of the cares of life, there is no pain from parents, there is no pain from gold, there are no wicked thoughts, there is no devil, there is no death, there is no night, but all 18 day"-(Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, etc.) A.N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 502.
"... Virtue, therefore, is not as they say, to be sought on its own account, but on account of a happy life, which necessarily follows virtue .. But this present and corporeal life cannot be happy, because it is subject to evils through the body ... For a state of happiness ought to be perfect, so that there be nothing which can harass, or lessen, or change it. Nor can anything be judged happy in other respects, unless it be incorruptible. But nothing is incorruptible but that which is immortal. Immortality, therefore, is alone happy, because it can neither be corrupted nor destroyed .. The chief good is, therefore, found to be immortality. In this one thing alone can we be happy in this life, if we appear to be unhappy; if, avoiding the enticements of pleasure, and giving ourselves to service of virtue only, we live in all labours and miseries, which are the means of exercising and strengthening virtue; if, in short, we keep to that rugged and difficult path which has been opened for us to happiness. The chief good therefore which makes men happy, cannot exist, unless it be in that religion and doctrine to which is annex. ed the hope of immortality."-(Lactantius) A.N.C.L. vol. xxi. pp. 162 165.

Page #60

48
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"Oh! the blessedness of the soul that is redeemed by the word ! Oh! [the blessedness of] the trumpet of peace without wer! Obi [the blessedness of] the teaching which quenches the fire of appetite! which, (though it] makes not poets, nor fits (men) to be philosophers, nor bas samong its votaries] the orators of the crowd ; yet instructs [men], and makes the dead not to die, and lifts man from the earth [as] gods unto the region which is above the firmament. Come, be instructed, and be like me : for I too was Conceas ye are."--(Ambrose) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 104.
"... and the end of knowledge 18 rest—the last thing conceived as the object of aspiration."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. 1v. p. 134.
"... who for the 'oy that was set before him endured the cross." —Hebrews xii. 2.
"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting jor upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Isaiab xxxv. 10.
" But the fruit of the spirit is ... joy, peace."-Gal. v. 22.
"And exultation is said to be gladness, being a reflection of the virtue which is according to truth through a kind of exhilaration and relaxation of the soul."-A.N.C.L. vol. x11. p 361.
“... For in the trinity alone ... does goodness exist in virtue of essential being, while others possess it as an accidental and perishable quality, and only then enjoy blessedness when they participate in holiness and wisdom and in divinity itself."-A.N.C.L. vol. x. p. 55
"... Laws which ensure happiness to those who live according to them and who do not flatter the demons by means of sacrifices, but altogether despise them. ..."-(Origen) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiii. p. 194.
" These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."John xv. 11.
"But the cause of this 18 not in the things which cannot be at one and the same time deadly and wholesome, sweet and butter; but just as each one has been formed to receive impressions from what is external, Bo he 16 affected : his condition is not caused by the influences of the things, but springs from the nature of his own senges, and connection with the external. But all this is set for from the gods, and separated from them by no small interval."--(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. pp 337-338.

Page #61

THE HAPPINESS OF GODS
As for the scientific aspect of the question, there can be no doubt but that no man or any other living mortal can be regarded as happy. The different kinds of pleasures are agreeable simply because of our mental cravings for them. Worldly pleasure is like iced water which is cooling and delightful to a man suffering from high fever or who is agitated with thirst. If one has no craving for water and is not suffering from fever, it will fail to give pleasure. All worldly pleasures are transient; they depend on external things, on our means to obtain them, and on our capacity to enjoy them. If any of these contributaries is lacking or impaired, there is an end to our pleasure. There can be no real happiness for him who has the fear of death staring him in the face, and the same is the case with the ignorant. If anybody has any right, therefore, to happiness, it is he who is both omniscient and immortal. That the soul itself is invested by Nature with real bliss will be evident if we analyse the feeling of mixed freedom and joy which is experienced when the successful accomplishment of some task is achieved. The schoolboy who hears the good-tidings of his success undoubtedly feels happy. But his happiness through this experience is not a product of any of the five senses, it is not a sensation of touch, it is not a sensation of sight, hearing, smell or taste. Being independent of the senses, it can only originate within. Its occasion is the conviction that never again the straining and striving to which he was put for that particular examination need be gone through. In other words, his experience is an emotion of freedom which arises from the soul's own being (substance), and only because real freedom has been
F. 4

Page #62

50
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
obtained, in respect of some burdensome obligation. It will last just as long as another kind of obligation is not imposed on ,,the soul. · Those, therefore, who have attained to complete liberation from all external associations, who find satisfaction and rest in themselves, whose being is ever centred in their own divinity, alone are fit to enjoy the bliss of Gods; They perpetually experience the delight born of a feeling of freedom that can never never again be jeopardised or lost; They are omniscient, immortal and blissful!

Page #63

CHAPTER 7
SOULS ALL ALIKE
The Jaina view is that all souls are of a like nature in respect of their natural properties, attributes and qualities. Differences exist simply on account of embodied life. Outside the class of embodied beings there are no differences. The souls in Nirvana enjoy equal status; no one is greater, no one is lesser there. There can be no God who may be deemed to be superior to Souls in Nirvana. He will have to be either plus or minus something over and above the normal Soul, but if he is a normal soul plus so much of something else, he will be a compounded effect and therefore perishable. The counter-possibility does not arise, because one cannot take away anything from the natural properties or attributes of a substance.
Even the Tirthamkaras (of whom there are only twenty-four in a cycle of time comprising untold millions of years) are, in no sense, superior to, or different from, the ordinary soul; They were at one time sinful souls Themselves.
The Christian views on the subject are embodied in the following quotations :
" Ye are the light of the world."-Matt. v. 14., " Ye are the song of the living God."-Hosea i. 10. "... because as he is, so are we in this world."-1 John iv, 17.
"Every one who participates in anything is unquestionably of one essence and nature with him who is the partaker of the same thing ... Every mind which partakes of intellectual light ongbt undoubtedly
51

Page #64

52
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
to be of one nature with every mind which partakes in a similar manner of intellectual light. If the heavenly virtues, then, partake of intellectual light, i.e., of divine nature, because they participate in wisdom and holiness, and if human souls have partaken of the same light and wisdom, and thus are mutually of one nature and of one essence... then, since the heavenly virtues are incorruptible and immortal, the essence of the human soul will also be immortal and incorruptible."-A.N.C.L. vol. x. p. 853.
for souls themselves, by themselves, are equal."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 362.
"And here, therefore, we draw our conclusion, that all the natural properties of the soul are inherent in it as parts of its substance; and they grow and develop along with it, from the very moment of its origin at birth. Just as Seneca says, whom we so often find on our side: 'There are implanted within us the seeds of all the arts and periods of life. . . . '"'—(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 457. 'And she brought forth a man-child who is to rule all the nations.' By this it is meant that the church always bringing forth Christ, the perfect man-child of God, who is declared to be God and Man, becomes the instructor of all nations. And the words 'Her child was caught up unto God and to His Throne signify that he who is always born of her is a heavenly King and not an earthly..."-(Hippolytus) A.N.C.L. vol. ix. pt. ii. p. 36
"R
. . . For if he were not of the same (nature with ourselves) in vain does he ordain that we should imitate the teacher. And if that man happened to be of a different substance (from us) why does he lay injunctions similar (to those He has received) on myself, who am born weak? . . . He did not protest against His passion but became obedient unto death and manifested His resurrection. Now in all these (acts) He offered up as the first-fruits His own manhood in order that thou when thou art in tribulation, mayest not be disheartened, but confessing thyself to be a man with nature like the Redeemer, mayest dwell in expectation of also receiving what the father has granted unto his son."-(Hippolytus) A.N.C.L. vol. vi. p. 400.
64
68
...
"And it is writtenThese things are all that He behoved to suffer, and what should be after Him.'"'-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 380.

Page #65

53
This (Logos) we know to have... remodelled the old man by a new creation. (And we believe the Logos) to have passed through every period in (this) life in order that He Himself might serve as a Law for every age... and might exhibit his own manhood as an aim for all men."-(Hippolytus) A.N.C.L. vol. vi. pp. 399. 400.
"
SOULS ALL ALIKE
"All souls are immortal even those of the wicked for whom it were better that they were not deathless."-(Clementine Fragments) A.N.C.L. vol xxiv. p. 163.
"The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his [own] master."-Luke vi. 40.
As for the rational explanation of the matter, I do not think much need be said on the point. Substance is constant; its properties and functions do not vary except under some external influence. Hence, when the external influence is set aside, all substances of the same kind must be deemed to be possessed of common attributes, privileges and prerogatives.

Page #66

CHAPTER 8
EVERY SOUL IS ITS OWN GOD
The Jaina view is that every soul is a God in himself, for he who is found to be immortal, omniscient and blissful by nature can be nothing less, than God, and there can be nothing higher than a being who is all
this.
The Christian views are indicated below:
"Hail, O light! For in us, buried in darkness, shut up in the shadow of death, light has shone forth from heaven, parer than the Bun, Sweeter than life here below. That light is eternal life; and whatever partakes of it lives."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 102.
"Then, he that is uninstructed in the word, has ignorance as the excuse of his error; but as for him into whose ears instruction has been poured, and who deliberately maintains his incredulity in his soul, the wiser he appears to be, the more harm will his understanding do him; for he has his own sense as bis accuser for not having chosen the best part. For man has been otherwise consti. tuted by nature, so as to have fellowship with God."--(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 92.
"Man, that has been free by reason of simplicity, was found fettered to bins. The Lord then wished to release him from his bonds, and clothing Himself with Aesh- divine mystery I-Vanquish. ed the serpent, and enslaved the tyrant death; and, most marvellous of all, man that had been deceived by pleasure, and bound fast to corruption, had his hands unloosed, and was set free. O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, and man rose up; and he that fell from Paradise receives as the reward of obedience something greater (than Paradise)-namely, heaven itself."-Ibid. p. 100.
"The soul, in my opinion, is sensual. Nothing, therefore, pertaining to the soul is unconnected with sense, nothing pertaining to
54

Page #67

EVERY SOUL IS ITS OWN GOD
55
sense is unconnected with the soul."--Tertullianus) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 190.
" He, the husbandman of God, having bestowed on us the truly great, divine, and inalienable inheritance of the Father, deifying man by heavenly teaching."--(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 102.
“ It is then, as appears, the greatest of all lessons to know one's self. For if one knows himself, he will know God; and knowing God, he will be made like God, not by wearing gold or long robes, but by well-doing, and by requiring as few things as possible." (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 273.
"Heraclitus, then, rightly said, "Men are Gods, and Gods are men.' For the Word Himself is the manifest mystery : God in man, and man in God. And the Mediator executes the Father's will; for the Mediator is the Word, who is common to both the Son of God, the Saviour of men; His servant, our Teacher."--Ibid. p. 274.
“The divine apostle writes accordingly respecting us : 'For now we see as through a glass' (1 Cor. xii. 12) knowing ourselves in it by reflection, and simultaneously contemplating, as we can, the efficient cause, from that, which, in os, is divine. For it is said, ' Having seen thy brother, thou bast seen thy God :' methinks that now the Saviour God is declared to us. But after the laying aside of the flesh, 'face to face,'—then definitely and comprehensively, when the heart becomes pure. And by reflection and direct vision, those among the Greeks who have philosophised accurately, see God."-Ibid. p. 415.
" For this cause did the Son of God descend and take on Him & soul, not that the soul might discover itself in Christ, but Christ in itself."
"Let no one then despise the word, lest be unwittingly despise himself"-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. 1v. p. 81.
" Still there is a portion of good in the soul, of that original, divine, and genuine good, which is its proper nature." (Tertullianus) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 505.
".. ye who have His image in your bodies, have in like manner the likeness of His judgment in your minds. Since, then, by acting like irrational animals, you have lost the soul of man from your soul, becoming like swine, you are the prey of demons. If, therefore, you receive the law of God, you become men. For it

Page #68

56
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
cannot be said to irrational animals, Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal,' and so forth. Therefore, do not refuse, when invited, to return to your first nobility; for it is possible, if ye be conformed to God by good works. And being accounted to be sons by reason of your likeness to Him, you shall be reinstated as lords of all."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N. C.L. vol. xvii. p. 163.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."-Matt. v. 48.
"And know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"-1 Cor. 111. 16.
"I said, Ye are Gods."-John x. 34; Ps. lxxxii. 6.
41
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."1' John in. 2.
46
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."2 Peter i. 14.
-
"Till we all come . . . unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."-Ephesians lv. 13.
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."James i. 4.
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."-Romans viii. 18.
for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."-Luke
46
LE
...
xvii. 21.
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."-Philippians ii. 5-6.
"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven."— John iii. 12.
1
64
greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."-1 John iv. 4.
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10.

Page #69

EVERY SOUL IS ITS OWN GOD
57
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power."-Colossians ii. 9-10.
" And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."-Ephesians iii.
19.
"... The creature should ... ascend to Him, passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God ..."(Irenaeus) A.N.C.L. vol. ix. p. 167.
"... If therefore man has become immortal he will also be God .. Wherefore I preach to this effect : Come, all ye kindreds of the nations to the immortality of the baptism."—(Hippolytus) A.N.C. L. vol. 18. pt. ii. p. 86.
"For once the crown of righteousness encircles thy brow, thou bast become God . . . Thou hast been deified and begotten unto immortality . . . This constitutes 'Know thyself,' or, in other words, learn to discover God within thyself."-(Hippolytus) A.N.O.L. vol. vi. p. 402.
As for the scientific aspect of the question, very little need be said on the subject, as the idea of a creator is inadmissible in a scientific study of things and the soul is proved to be its own God. These conclusions are startling and staggering, no doubt, to those who have not studied the subject properly. But the knowers of the Truth have really known these things all along. We have it in the Syriac Documents (Prophetic Scriptures) :
"I know that the mysteries of Science (Gnosis] are a laughingstock to many ... and a few are at first startled at them, 88 the light 18 suddenly brought into a convivial party in the dark." A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 128.
Pure materialism has ever failed, for this reason, to appeal to those who are the knowers of Truth, though very many of them have not been able to perceive the doctrine clearly enough: witness the scathing

Page #70

JAINISM, ČHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
sarcasm of St. Paul against the purely materialistic sciences:
58
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely socalled "-1 Timothy vi. 20.
In the Clementine Homilies, too, one will find the injunction to avoid the company of the learned unwise:
"For those who are full of evil learning, even with their breath infect as with madness, those who associate with them, with their own passions, and what is worse, whoever 18 most instructed among them is so much turned from the judgment which is according to Nature."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 98.

Page #71

CHAPTER 9
WRETCHED STATE OF THE EMBODIED SOUL
The Jaina view is that under the influence of matter the pure attributes of the Spirit or soul-substance are unfunctioning. The embodied soul is mortal, ignorant and unhappy. The perfect soul is immortal, omniscient and blissful. Hence, the inferiority of the embodied
soul.
The Christian view is given below: “For there is no man that sinneth not."-1 Kings viü. 46.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans iii. 23.
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and ginneth not."-Ecclesiastes vii. 20.
"No one is clean from filthiness, not even if his life lasted but • a single day."-(Origen) A.N.C.L. vol. x. p. 347.
"... His first advent in the flesh, which took place without honour by reason of His being set at naught, as Isaiah spake of Him aforetime saying, 'We saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness, but His form was despised, and rejected (lit. deficient) above all men; a man smitten and familiar with bearing infirmity (for his face was turned away); He was despised and esteemed not. But His second advent is announced as glorious, when He shall come from Heaven with the host of angels ... as the prophet saith, 'Ye shall see the King in glory' and 'I saw one like the son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven.' "-A.N.C.L. vol. ix. pt. ii. p. 25.
"For two comings of Christ having been revealed to as : a first, which has been fulfilled in the lowliness of a human lot; & second, which impends over the world, now near its close, in all the majesty of Deity unveiled; ..."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 93.
59

Page #72

60
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
“For we know that the whole creation, groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."-Romans vüi. 22-23.
" These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer: I bave overcome the world."—John xvi. 33.

Page #73

CHAPTER 10
PHYSICAL BODY (EMBODIMENT IN MATIER)
THE CAUSE OF TROUBLE
The Jaina view is, that spirit and flesh, that is, the body of matter, are of opposite natures. The physical encasement thus stands in the way of the realisation of the inborn divinity of the soul. The body must be got rid of altogether.
The Christian view of the subject will appear from the following quotations:
"... filesh ... separates and limits the knowledge of those that are spiritual ... for souls themselves by themselves are equal."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 362.
"For bound in this earthly body we apprehend the objects of sense by means of the body."-Ibid. p. 224.
“His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sins."-Proverbs v. 22.
“The mental acumen of those who are in the body seems to be blunted by the nature of corporeal matter."-(Origen) A.N.C.L.
p. 82.
"... he that hath suffered in the Aesh hath ceased from sin."-1 Peter iv. I.
"... whosoever shall I se his life shall preserve it." -Luke xvii. 33.
"Now this I say, brethren, 'that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed ... For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, so when this corruptible shall have
61

Page #74

62
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
put on incorruption, and this mortál shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swalloryed up in victory."-1 Cor. xv. 50—54.
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesb) dwelleth no good tbing ... For the good that I would I do not : but the evil which I would not, that I do ... I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"-Romans vii. 18-24.
"I beseech you therefore, bretbren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."-Romans xii. 1.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow."-Hebrews iv. 12.
St. Paul's idea of the divisions of the constitution of a living being into spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians v. 23) can be easily grasped if we liken the living organism to a piece of sponge that is saturated with water. The sponge is, of course, the outer physical body, and the liquid compound of oxygen and hydrogen, the other two, namely, the spirit and soul. The element of pure Spirit in this inner residue of being is the life-giving oxygen, that is existing in the closest chemical union with hydrogen, the symbol of matter. Taken together, they constitute the soul, which is subject to birth and death; separated from the soul, the element of life is pure Spirit, deathless, all-knowing
and blissful. Hence, it is said of such purified Spirits ·" neither can They die any more.”—(Luke xx. 36.)
"In whom algo ye are circumcised with the circumcision made

Page #75

PHYSICAL BODY THE CAUSE OF TROUBLE
63
without hands, in putting off the body of the side of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ."-Col. ii. 11.
" Knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed..."-Romans vi. 6.
"It is a faithful saying: If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him."-2 Tim. i. 11.
"Who (the Saviour] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby be 18 able even to subdue all things unto himself."-Philippians m, 21.
"... The mental acumen of those who are in the body seems to be blunted by the nature of the corporeal matter. If, however, they are out of the body then they will altogether escape the annoyance arising from a disturbance of that kind ... at last by the gradual disappearance of the material nature, death is puth swallow. ed up and even at the end exterminated, and all its sting completely blunted by the divine grace which the soul has been rendered capable of receiving, and has thus deserved to obtain incorruptibility and immortality . . . It follows that we must believe our condition at some future time to be incorporeal ... and thus it appears that then also the need of bodies will cease ... The whole nature of bodily things will be dissolved into nothing."-(Origen) A.N.C.L. vol. X. pp. 82-83.
"... Now the sacrifice that is acceptable to God is unswerying abstraction from the body and its passions."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 261.
"The Saviour himself enjoins, watch' as much as to say 'Study how to live and endeavour to separate the soul from the body'..." Ibid. p. 284.
"... the more subtle substance, the soul, could never receive any injury from the gross element of matter, its subtle and simple nature rendering it impalpable, called as it is incorporeal. But whatever is gross, made so in consequence of sin, this is cast away along with the carnal spirit which lusts against the soul.'-- A.N.C.L. vol. xil. p. 334.
“The sole key to unlock Paradise is your own life's blood."(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. sv. p. 531.
“The divine apostle writes accordingly respecting us : 'For now

Page #76

64
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
we see as through a glass' (1 Cor. xiii. 12) knowing ourselves in it by reflection, and simultaneously contemplating, as we can, the efficient cause, from that, which, in us, is divine. For it is said, 'Hay. ing seen thy brother, thou hast seen thy God :' methinks that now the Saviour God is declared to us. But, after the laying aside of the flesh, 'face to face,'--then definitely and comprehensively, when the heart becomes pure. And by reflection and direct vision, those among the Greeks who have philosophized accurately, see God."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 416.
"Nor is there at all any composite thing, and creature endowed with sensation, of the sort in heaven."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 242.

Page #77

CHAPTER 11
FAITH, KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT
According to Jainism, Right Eaith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, constitute the path to liberation from the bondage of matter. Right Faith means the belief in the essentials of the Science of Salvation; Right Knowledge means the correct and adequate knowledge of that science; and Right Conduct means the doing of the proper things which will bring about the complete separation between spirit and matter. . When a soul has perfected himself, He may justly Bay of Himself, “I am the Faith (the Way), Knowledge (the Truth), and Conduct (the Life), for Faith, Knowledge and Conduct can only reside in human hearts, not in books, which merely contain their descriptions. The order in which Faith, Knowledge and Conduct occur has an importance attached to it in Jainism. · Faith precedes Knowledge, and Conduct comes last of all. The reason of this is that unless Faith removes the element of doubt from the information, that is, from what one has heard about the teaching of Truth, knowledge does not become free from error and is not termed Right Knowledge. It is only when the birth of Faith has put the seal of belief on the matter of information that it becomes entitled to the dignity of Right Knowledge. Therefore, the Perfect Soul would naturally observe this order when saying "I am the Way, the Truth and the
65
F. 5

Page #78

66
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
Life.” Faith is the first essential; conduct without faith is purposeless and will fail in the attainment of the object aimed at.
The Christian views on the subject will appear from the subjoined quotations :
“Right Faith is ... a comprehensive knowledge of the essentials; and knowledge is the strong and sure demonstration of what is received by faith, built upon faith ... conveying the soul on to infallibility, science, and comprehension . . . the first saving change is that from heathenism to faith ... and the second that from fazth to knowledge. And the latter terminating in love, thereafter gives the loving to the loved."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. pp. 447-448.
“For by whom has truth ever been discovered without God? By whom has God ever been found without Christ? By whom has Christ ever been explored without the Holy Spirit? By whom has the Holy Spirit ever been attained without the mysterious gift of FAITH?"-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 412.
"If, therefore, ye wish to be the vesture of the Divine Spirit. hasten first to put off your base presumption, which 18 an unclea spirit and a foul garment. And this you cannot otherwise put off, than by being first baptized in good works ..."-(Clement) A.N. C.L. vol. xvii. p. 147.
"But perhaps some one will say, What does it contribute to piety to be baptized with water? In the first place, because you do that which is pleasing to God; and in the second place, being born again to God of water, by reason of fear you change your first generation, which is of lust, and thus you are able to obtain salvation. But otherwise, it is impossible."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 186.
“But it is necessary in our prayers to acknowledge that we have had recourse to God, and to bear witness, not to the apathy, but to the slowness of the demon. For all things are done to the believer, nothing to the unbeliever. Therefore the demons themselves, knowing the amount of faith of those of whom they take possession, measure their stay proportionately. Wherefore they stay permanently with the unbelieving, tarry for a while with the weak in faith, but with those who thoroughly believe, and do good, they cannot

Page #79

FAITH, KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT
67
remain even for a moment. For the soul being turned by faith, as it were, into the nature of water, quenches the demon as a spark of fire. The labour, therefore, of every one is to be solicitous about the putting to fight of his own demon. For, being mixed up with men's souls, they suggest to every one's mind desires after which things they please, in order that he may neglect his salvation."— (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 153.
"But still, though all demons, with all diseases, flee before you, you are not to rejoice in this only, but in that, through grace, your names, as of the ever-living, are written in heaven. Thus also the Divine Holy Spirit rejoices, because man hath overcome death; for the putting of the demons to flight makes for the safety of another."-- (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 159.
"It is therefore of no advantage to them after the end of life, even if they do good works now, if they have not FAITH."—(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 375.
"For if, after the learning of these things, you remain in unbelief, the cause of your destruction will be imputed to yourselves, and not to ignorance. And do not suppose that you can have hope towards God, even if you cultivate all piety and all righteousness, but do not receive baptism. Yea rather, he will be worthy of greater punishment, who does good works not well; for merit accrues to men from good works, but only if they be done as God commands."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ii. p. 332.
"But self-control... perfected through knowledge abiding ever, makes a man Lord and Master of himself; so that the Gnostic 18 temperate and passionless, incapable of being dissolved by pleasures and pains, as they say adamant is by fire."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 455.
"For he who has not formed the wish to extirpate the passion of the soul kills himself."-Ibid. p. 458.
"And to bear the sign of the cross is to bear about death, by taking farewell of all things whilst still in the flesh alive."-Ibid. P. 464.
"And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand " [which cannot stand tempestuous weather and floods].-Matt. vii. 26.

Page #80

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"Be ye doers of the word, and not bearers only, deceiving your own selves."-James 1. 22.
68
"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto him, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give him not these things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."James in. 14-17.
And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."-John viii. 32.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6.
41
[The correspondences are as follows:
the Way the path, the Faith, hence the Right Faith;
the truth the knowledge, the Right Knowledge; the life the proper mode of living, the Right Conduct.]
"But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden."-Gal. vi. 4-5.
3
"If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Phil. ii. 11.
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead."-Eph.
41
V. 14.
"But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry: nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."-Luke xx. 35-36.
"For works follow knowledge, as the shadow of the body."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 467.
48 Love 18 the keeping of commandments which leads to knowledge. And the keeping of them is the establishment of commandments from which immortality results."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. P 875.

Page #81

69
it is our aim to discover what doing and in what manner of living we shall reap the knowledge of the sovereign God, and how, honouring the divinity, we may become authors of our own salvation... now it is well-pleasing to Him that we should be saved, and salvation is effected through both well-doing and knowledge, of both of which the Lord is the teacher."-(Clement) A.N. C.L. vol. xii. p. 376.
"It is not simply doing well but doing actions with a certain aim, and acting according to reason, that the scripture exhibits as requisite." (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 369.
all actions of the Gnostic may be called right action... that of the simple believer intermediate action; but that of every heathen ... are sinful."-Ibid. p. 369.
GL but we must be above both good and bad, trampling the latter under foot, and passing on the former to those who need them."-Ibid. p. 645.
•
FAITH, KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT
...
61
Such are they who are restrained by law and fear. For on finding a favourable opportunity they defraud the law, by giving what is good the slip. But self-control . . . perfected through knowledge... makes the man Lord and Master of himself."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 455.
The significance of the expression giving what is good the slip' in the above quotation is this: there are three kinds of actions, namely, evil, virtuous and deifying. When a man enters the Spiritual Path he replaces vice by virtue (the doing of good to others) during the preliminary stage, that is, the Householder's Path, thus eliminating wickedness from his heart. deifying actions begin when Sainthood is reached. man then does neither good nor harm to anybody, but applies himself solely to the elimination of matter from his soul. Thus the giving the slip to good' does not mean a falling back into wickedness, but only a complete withdrawal of the mind from the outside world. In Jainism these three kinds of action are known as
The
The

Page #82

70
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
evils, De way*
aśubha (inauspicious, evil), śubha (auspicious, virtu. ous) and buddha (purifying, hence, deifying).
" Then said Peter ... and if, according to what we believe concerning God, we observe righteousness in the whole course of our life, we shall enjoy His goodness for ever.'"-A.N.C.L. vol. jii. p. 257. " Peter made proclamation to the people, saying :
'Since I have resolved to stay three months with you, if any one desires it, let him be baptised; that, stripped of his former
he may for the future, in consequence of his own conduct, become heir of heavenly blessings, as a reward for his good actions. Whosoever will, then, let him ... attend to frequent fastings, and approve himself in all things, that at the end of these three months he may be baptised on the day of the festival.'"-A.N.C.L. vol. 11. p. 276.
"... Yet he himself, rejoicing in the riches of wisdom wbich be hath found, desires insatiably to enjoy them, and is delighted with the practice of good works; hastening to attain, with a clean heart and a pure conscience, the world to come, when he shall be able to see God, the King of all."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. in. p. 307.
"But the sole cause of our wanting and being deprived of all these things 16 ignorance. For while men do not know how much good there is in knowledge, they do not suffer the evil of ignorance to be removed from them; for they know not how great a difference 18 involved in the change of one of these things for the other. Wherefore I counsel every learner willingly to lend his ear to the word of God, and to hear with love of the truth what we say, that his mind, receiving the best seed, may bring forth joyful fruits by good deeds."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 307.
"" Then Peter said 'Let not the wicked one prevail against us, taking occasion from & mother's love; but let you, and me with yon, fast this day along with her, and to-morrow she shall be baptiz. ed : for it is not right that the precepts of truth be relaxed and weakened in favour of any person or friendship.'"-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 857.
"... And therefore both young and old ought to be very

Page #83

FAITH, KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT
71
earnest about their conversion and repentance, and to be taken up with the adornment of their souls for the future with the worthiest ornaments, such as the doctrines of truth, the grace of chastity, the splendour of righteousness, the fairness of piety, and all other things with which it becomes a reasonable mind to be adorned. Then, besides, they should break off from ungeemly and unbelieving companions, and keep .company with the faithful, and frequent those 886emblies in which subjects are handled relating to chastity, righteousness and piety; to pray to God always heartily, and to ask of Him those things which ought to be asked of God; to give the to Him; to repent truly of their past doings; in some measur is possible, by deeds of mercy towards the poor, to help their peni. tence : for by these means pardon will be more easily bestowed, and mercy will be sooner shown to the merciful. . . God does not ask
ey of you, but a merciful heart and a pious mind."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ui. pp. 459 and 456.
"But ye are not able to endure the austerity of salvation ... And be not afraid lest the multitude of pleasing objects which rise before you withdraw you from wisdom. You yourself will spontaneously burmount the frivolousness of custom, as boys, when they have become men throw aside their toys." (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 98.
"... so also those who are diseased in soul require a peda. gogue to core our maladies; and then a teacher, to train and guide the soul to all requisite knowledge when it is made able to admit the revelation of the Word. Eagerly desiring, then, to perfect us by a graduation conducive to salvation, suited for efficacious disci. pline, a beautiful arrangement is observed by the all-benignant who first exhorts, then trains, and finally teaches." (Clement) A.N.O.L vol. 1v. p. 114.
"... And so far, he says, no one any longer lives after the flesh. For that is not life, but death. For Christ also, that He, might show this, ceased to live after the flesh."--(Clementine Fragments, pt. 11) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv, pp. 178-179.
"It is impossible for a man to be steadily good except by his own choice. For he that is made good by compulsion of another is not good; for he is not what he is by his own choice. For it is the freedom of each one that makes true goodness and reveals real

Page #84

72
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
wickedness. Whence through these dispositions God contrived to make His own disposition manifest."-(Clementine Fragments, pt. i) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 167.
The scientific explanation of the necessity of the confluence of Faith, Knowledge and Conduct, lies in the fact that Faith is necessary for the sustentation of Conduct. Without Faith, Conduct will be unsteady and spasmodic, and will be thrown overboard at the earliest brush with misfortune or discouragement.
Knowledge is so obviously requisite that no word of comment is necessary concerning it. The law in regard to success is' the same both in the region of matter as well as of spirit. Faith, Knowledge and Conduct are necessary if human effort is to be crowned with success, both here as well as on the higher 'plane.'

Page #85

CHAPTER 12
THE TRUE TEACHERS
All
According to the Jaina view the true teacher should have at least two qualifications: he should be omniscient and absolutely devoid of a motive. He who is not allknowing is bound to be in error on some point or other, and will just mislead us there. He who is not absolutely devoid of a motive is also sure to mislead us where and when his personal interests are concerned. things cannot be known by a finite embodied intellect. It is therefore necessary to rely upon the knowledge of an all-knowing teacher. The true teacher never teaches anything in allegory, and he will never use expression which is liable to mislead, immediately or in the remote future. When such a teacher is found the only question which can arise about His teaching can be whether or not any particular passage ascribed to Him is really the one which emanated from Him, assuming that He is not present Himself and His word is only preserved in books or orally by tradition. But once it is proved that a particular passage emanates from a real omniscient teacher, no further question about its authenticity or value can arise. The word of a true teacher can never be at variance with the facts of observation or legitimate inferences which they give rise to. All mystic and mystifying writings are to be avoided as they are conducive only, or at least chiefly, to our misunderstandings.
73

Page #86

JAINISM. CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE .
Individual opinion is not entitled to any weight against the teachings of a duly qualified teacher as defined above."
The Christian views on the subject are given below:
"... And therefore, before all else, the credentials of the prophet himself must be examined with all care; and when you have once ascertained that he 18 & prophet, it behoves you thenceforth to believe him in everything, and not further to discuss the particulars which he teaches, but to hold the things which he speaks as certain and sacred; which things, although they seem to be received by faith, yet are believed on the ground of the probation previously in. stituted. For when once at the outset the truth of the prophet is established on examination, the rest is to be heard and held on the ground of the faith by which at is already established that he 18 a teacher of truth."--Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. üi. p. 158.
"Therefore, if any one wishes to learn all things, (he cannot do it by) discussing them one by one; for, being mortal, he shal be able to trace the counsel of God, and to scan immensity itself. But if, as we have said, he desires to learn all things, let him seek after the true Prophet: and when he has found Him, let him not treat with Him by questions and disputations and arguments; but if He has given any response, or pronounced any judgment, it cannot be doubted that this is certain. And therefore, before all things, let the true Prophet be sought, and His words be laid hold of." (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L vol. iii. p. 398.
" Wherefore, before all things, we must test the Prophet with all judgment by means of the prophetic promise; and having ase' certained Him to be the Prophet, we must undoubtedly follow the other words of His teaching; and having confidence concerning things hoped for, we must conduct ourselves according to the first judgment, knowing that He who tells us these things has not a nature to lie. Wherefore, if any of the things that are afterwards spoken by Him do not appear to us to be well spoken, we must know that it is not that it has been spoken &m188, but that it 18 that we have not conceived it anght. For ignorance does not rightly judge knowledge, and so neither is knowledge competent truly to judge fore

Page #87

THE TRUE TEACHERS
75
knowledge; but foreknowledge affords knowledge to the ignorant.”(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 36.
"... But He 18 a true Prophet, who always knows all things, and even the thoughts of all men, who is without sin, as being convinced respecting the judgment of God. Wherefore we onght not Bimply to consider respecting His foreknowledge, but whether His foreknowledge can stand, apart from other cause. For physicians predict certain things, having the pulse of the patient as matter submitted to them; and some predict by means of having fowls, and bome by having sacrifices, and others by having many various matters submitted to them; yet these are not prophets."-(Clementine Homi. lies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 61.
"... But the foreknowledge of the one true Prophet does not only know things present, but stretches out prophecy without limit as far as the world to come, and needs nothing for its interpretation, not prophecying darkly and ambiguously, so that the things spoken would need another propbet for the interpretation of them; but clearly and simply, 28 oor Master and Prophet, by the inborn and ever-flowing Spirit, always knew all things."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. pp. 61-62.
"Peter arobe saying : ... 'But do not speak anything which is your own, and which bas not been committed to you, though it may seem to yourselves to be true; but hold forth those things, as I have said, which I myself have received from the true Prophet, and have delivered to you, although they may seem to be less full of author. ity.' "-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 382.
" Appeal, in discussion of heresy, lies not to the Scriptures. The Scriptures in fact belong only to those who believe, or have the Rule of Faith ... Our appeal, therefore, must not be made to the Scrip. tures; nor must controversy be admitted on points in which victory will either be impossible, or uncertain, or not certain enough."(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. pp. 21-22.
The Christian Scriptures, being couched in the mystic language of allegory, could not be appealed to in the case of a disputation where nothing but plain language and scientific thought are requisite and of value.
It may be pointed out that the ban on individual

Page #88

76
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
opinion does not shut out rational thought; it only shuts out cheap and ready opinion; for on full investigation the word of the Omniscient Teacher will never be found to clash rith rational thought. Matters affecting the details of the world's history and the like are also generally left out of His discourse by the Teacher Divine, so that the progress of human investigation need not necessarily be arrested in the department of natural sciences.

Page #89

CHAPTER 13
FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS
According to Jainism, both the world and religion are eternal, but while the world continues without a break in its continuity, religion is periodically lost and re-discovered by men. All sciences are eternal, whether we know them or not is not the question. Therefore eternity remains unaffected by our knowledge. The science of Salvation, too, has always been in existence, sometimes known to man, sometimes not known on this earth. In every cycle of time of very many millions of years, twenty-four Great Teachers arise. They are termed Tirthamkaras, and They teach and preach the Truth, leaving Their example, Their teaching and Their footprints for those who care to follow them on the path. They are all men who have attained to the full realization of divinity and omniscience; They have no private loves or hatreds or personal motives of any kind left in Them, and Their knowledge is simply all-embracing and perfect. Besides Thema an innumerable company of Perfect Men also arise during the cycle: These also teach the Truth to a certain extent to mankind, but preaching is not Their mission in life in the same way as it is that of the Tirthamkaras.
The Jainas worship images of the Tirthamkaras, but not by way of idolatry; the Tirthamkaras are the ideals of Perfection for the imagination of man, and are to be " honoured," as we would honour the highest.
77

Page #90

78
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
ideal into whose foot-steps we wished ourselves to walk. The Perfect Men have got rid of matter completely, so that bodies are not formed any longer by Them in Nirvana. They reside at the top of the universe, termed Siddha Sila. There They abide, free from hunger, thirst, bodily sensations, sweat, sleep, birth, old age, death and the like. They have no matter adhering to Them; Their being is constituted by the substance of the soul, which is a simple uncompounded thing. They are in the human fórm, and above calamity, misfortune and mishap. They are immortal, omniscient, eternally blissful, and reside above the region of turmoil and suffering where embodied souls pass their time in misery.
The Christian view on the subject is rather myse tically expressed, but it is easy to be unfathomed. The twenty-four Elders of the Apocalypse are really the twenty-four Trrthamkaras, the scenic surroundings leave ing no doubt on the subject, though the style is mystic. An initiation scene is laid in allegorical style. In the centre of'a huge 'hall’ is placed a throne on which is placed Life that is Divine: round about the Throne are four and twenty seats on which sit four and twenty Elders, robed in white and wearing crowns of gold. In this Assembly is introduced the Lamb (the symbol of the soul characterized with supreme humility) that is to be initiated. In front of the Throne are four remarkable beasts: one of them is like a lion, another resembles an eagle, the third has the appearance of a calf, and the fourth has the face of a man. These beasts have six wings each, and are full of eyes all over; and they rest not night and day, but keep on blessing the

Page #91

FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS
One on the Throne. Such is the scenic imagery of the “ Hall of Initiation." A detailed elucidation is given in my other books, e.g., 'The Key of Knowledge and the Confluence of Opposites.' Briefly, the beasts represent the different kinds of souls that are embodied in the four elements (of matter), namely, the earthbodied (represented by the lion, since he walks on earth), the air-bodied (represented by the eagle who flies in the air), the water-bodied (represented by the calf, which here is the young of the sea-mammals), and the fire-bodied (represented by the sun which is painted as the face of a man). Wings are a symbol for time, since it flies; and the number six is descriptive of the six aras (spokes) or a half-cycle in which four and twenty Tirthamkaras appear and preach the Truth. Plainly put, the significance of the secret teaching is only this that Life is Divine, and its divinity is manifested most perfectly and fully in the case of four and twenty Tirthamkaras, who appear in a half-cycle of time, consisting of six aras, and preach the Noble Truth to and for the benefit of the souls embodied in material bodies.
Clement of Alexandria, who, according to Methods, was an immediate disciple of St. Peter himself, writes in the A.N.C.L. Series, vol. xi. pp. 365-366 :
"He then who has first moderated his passion and trained him. self for impassibility, and developed to the beneficence of gnostic perfection, is here equal to the angels. Luminous already, and like the sun shining in the exercise of beneficence, he speeds by. righteous knowledge through the love of God to the sacred abode, like as the apostles. And although here upon earth he be not honoured with the chief seat, he will sit down on the four and twenty thrones, judging the people, as Joha says in the Apocalypse."

Page #92

80
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
These thrones, then, are intended for the greatest Teachers among men, by whose standard, or norm, men will have to judge themselves if they want to attain to divine Perfection. These are the Tirthamkaras whose number is identically the same as that of the thrones and of the Elders who are seated on them.
The Christian description of the Siddhas (Perfect Souls) is given in the seventh chapter of the Book of Revelation in the 9th and 13th to 17th verses, and runs as follows:
9.“ After this I bebeld, and lo & great multitude which no man could number ... stood before the throne, ... clothed with wbite robes, and palms in their hands.
13." And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, what are these that are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14. "And I said unto him, Sir, tbou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15. "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16." They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any beat.
17. “For the Lamb that 18 in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
Concerning the excellence of the condition of the Siddhas (in Christian terminology, the Saved Ones) the Early Christian teaching mentioned the same characteristics of Their Existence in Nirvana as are given in the Jaina Scriptures:
“There shall be no more death, neither SOITOW nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." -Revelation xxi. 4.

Page #93

FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS
81
"... in which there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption, nor care, por night, nor day measured by time ... eye hath not seed nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God bas prepared for them that love him."-A.N.C.L. vol. ix. pt. ii. p. 50.
"For the incorruptible nature is not subject to generation; it grows not, sleeps not, hungers not, is not wearied, buffereth not, dies not, is not pierced by nails and spears, sweats not, drops not with blood. Of such kind are the natures of angels and of souls released from the body. For ... these are of another kind, and different from these creatures of our world, which are visible and perishing."--Ibid. p. 88.
"... After that there is no pain, there is no grief, there is no groaning; there is no recollection of evils, there are no tears, there is no envy, there is no hatred of the brethren, there is no unrighteousDess, there is no arrogance ... slander ... bitterness, there are none of the cares of life, there is no pain from parents, there is no pain from gold, there are no wicked thoughts, there is no devil, there is no death, there is no night, but all is day."-(Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, etc.) A.N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 502.
It will be noticed that Arnobius refers to “ the true gods and those who are worthy to have and wear the dignity of this name" (A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 17), and mentions the gods in plural number in several places in his writings (e.g., A.N.C.L. vol. xix. pp. 311, 326 & 338). In one of these references, namely, the passage on page 326 of the volume referred to, he actually makes mention of the race of gods. Indeed, this will not amaze us if we bear in mind the fact that the word * Elohim' which has been translated as god is plural in number, and that in the very first book in the Bible the following passage is ascribed to Godhead:
“Behold the man has become as one of us ..."-Gen. iii. 22. -
The serpent also tempts Adam and Eve by saying that they would be wise as gods.-Ibid. iii. 5.
F. 6

Page #94

82
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
The 'race of Gods' is, in truth, the race of Men who have attained to Divinity and Godhood. Clement, too, refers to angels and Gods as witnesses to the efforts of the spiritual athlete who tries to overpower the soul's deadly enemy, viz., passion.-A.N.C.L. vol. xii. pp. 419420.
It may be mentioned that the twenty-four Tirthamkaras also figure in Judaism, and in several other religions. Some of them have been mentioned by name even in Hindu Scriptures. All this is given in my book entitled 'Rişabha Deva,' the Founder of Jainism, and is omitted here as we are only concerned with Christian correspondences.
St. Paul says, “For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not risen " (1 Cor. xv. 16), that is to say, he 'bases the conclusion about the resurrection of Christ on the fact that dead men rise: men rise, therefore, is Christ also risen! He does not say because Christ has risen,' therefore, men shall rise.
As regards the point that men in the past have attained to Nervana, the testimony of the early Christian fathers is as follows:
“But if my opponents say, Christ was sent by God for this end, that be might deliver unbappy souls from ruin and destruction, of what orime were the former ages guilty which were cut off in their mortal state before he came? Can you, then, know what bas become of these souls of men who lived long ago... Can you, I say, know ... when souls were first bound to bodies . . . whither the souls of men who lived before us have gone ...? Lay aside these cares, and abandon questions to which you can find no answer. The Lord's compassion has been shown to them, too, and the divine kindness has been extended to all alike; they have been preserved, have been delivered, and have laid aside the lot and condition of mortality. ... If you were free from presumption, arrogance, and conceit, you migbt

Page #95

83
bave learnt long ago from this teacher."-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 132.
"On this wise, it is possible for the Gnostic already to have become God. I said, Ye are Gods, and Sons of the Highest!"(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 209.
"Oh the blessedness of the soul that is redeemed by the word! Oh [the blessedness of] the trumpet of peace without war! Oh [the blessedness of] the teaching which quenches the fire of appetite! which, [though it] makes not poets, nor fits [men] to be philosophers, nor has [among its votaries] the orators of the crowd; yet instructs [men], and makes the dead not to die, and lifts men from the earth [as gods] up to the region which is above the firmament. Come, be instructed, and be like me: for I too was [oncel] as ye are."(Ambrose) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 104.
·
FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS
No further authority is needed for a Christian reader for the proposition that the form of God is that of man, than that in Phil. ii. 6:
66
1
'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
"
As regards the Place of the Perfect Ones, the Jaina description of it is supported by the following Christian authorities:
... there are two heavens, one of which is that visible firmament which shall pass away, but the other is eternal and invisible."— (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ii. p. 281.
The two heavens referred to mean the heaven as such which is occupied by mortal, though superior kind of beings (termed devas in Jainism), and the other, the place of the abode of the Perfected Souls which is eternal.
"Luminous already, and like the sun shining in the exercise of beneficence, he speeds by righteous knowledge through the love of God to the sacred abode."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. pp. 865-366. "Accordingly after the highest excellence in flesh, changing always duly to the better, be urges his fight to the ancestral ball,
...
1

Page #96

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
to the Lord's own mansions, to be a light, steady and continuing eternally, entirely and in every part immutable."-(Clement) A.N.C. L. vol. xii. p. 448.
"The Lord was laid low and man rose up; and he that fell from Paradise received as the reward of obedience something greater (than Paradise), namely, heaven itself."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv.
p. 100.
There is nothing surprising in this identity of thought between Jainism and Christianity. If religion is a science, as it is maintained it is, then it could not possibly have remained a hole and corner affair all along throughout the past. Whatever men may say today, it was well-known to the early Christian fathers that the knowledge divine was common to all people and was not the exclusive property of any particular sect or creed.
"... For wherever it shall be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true scriptures and expositions thereof, and (indeed) all the Christian traditions."(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 22.
" Yet He has brought the report of it, under various names and opinions, through successive generations, to the hearing of all : so that whosoever should be lovers of good, hearing it, might inquire and discover what is profitable and salutary to them ..." -(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ul. p. 267.
"Numa the king of the Romans was a Pythagorean, and aided by the precepts of Moses, prohibited from making an image of God in human form, and of the shape of a living creature. Accordingly, during the first hundred and seventy years, though building temples, they made no cast or graven image. For Numa secretly showed them that the Best of Beings could not be apprehended except by the mind alone. Thus philosophy, 'a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the pro. phets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Samanæans among the Bac. trians; and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the

Page #97

FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS
85
Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judæa guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sarmana (or Samanæi) and others Brahmins. And those of the Sarmanæ who are called Hylobii Deither inhabit cities, por bave roofs over them, but are clothed in the bark of trees, feed on nuts, and drink water in their bends. Like those called Encratites in the present day, they know not marriage nor begetting of children ... Some, too, of the Indians obey the precepts of Buddha; whom, on account of his extraordinary sanctity, they bave raised to divine honours."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 398.
Gymnosophists are the Jainas; they were known as gymnosophists to the ancient Greeks and others. Philo Judæus refers to them, mentioning one of them, Calanus, by name (see Yonge's Philo Judæus, vol. iii. p. 526).
"... men who have been made like the angels through their excellent course of life; them also must I bring, and they will hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, one shepherd."-A.N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 502.
"For, since the present world is female, as a mother bringing forth the souls of her children, but the world to come 18 male, as a father receiving his children (from their mother), therefore in this worla there come a succession of prophets, as being sons of the world to come, and having knowledge of men."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 38.
As for Science, it knows nothing about omniscient man bàving graced our earth in the past; it only knows of a few gorillas, whose descendants it imagines we human beings are. Science is respectfully invited to make a thorough investigation into the mystery' of those twenty-four Omniscient Ones in whose existence the whole of humanity believed in the past, and to suspend.its judgment until it has fully investigated the statements already made and those to be made in this book.

Page #98

CHAPTER 19
THE TRUE SENSE OF WORSHIP
As said already in the previous chapter, the Jaina idea of worship is not that of idolatry, but merely that of imitating the God (Tirthamkara), to become in all respects like Him so far as divine attributes and powers are concerned. If I may coin & word, the Jainas are * Idealaters,' not idolaters. The true Christian idea of worship is identically the same.
"... Ye shall be holy : for I the Lord your God am holy..." Lev. six. %.
"For I am the Lord your God : ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be boly; for I am holy ..."-Ibid. xi. 44.
"Because it is written, Be ye boly : for I am holy."-1 Peter 1.
16.
"He that sayeth he abideth in him ought bimself so to walk, even as he walked."-1 John il. 6.
"Wherefore awake, and take to yourselves our Lord and God, even that Lord who 18 Lord both of heaven and earth, and conform yourselves to His image and likeness, as the true Prophet Himself teaches, saying 'Be ye merciful, as also your heavenly Father is merciful.' ..."Luke vi. 36; (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. in. p. 810.
"Imitate Him, therefore, and fear Him, as the commandment is given to men, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Bim only shalt thou serve.' For it is profitable to you to serve this Lord alone, that through Him knowing the one God, ye may be freed from the many whom ye vainly feared ... But rather, by the good. Dess of Him who inviteth you, return to your former nobleness, and by good deeds show that you bear the image of your Creator, that by contemplation of His likeness ye may be believed to be even His song."-Ibid. p. 310.
86

Page #99

THE TRUE SENSE OF WORSHIP
. “For even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps : who did not sin, neither was guile found in his month..."-1 Peter ii. 21.
“We therefore declare to you the true worship of God, and at the same time warn and exhort the worshippers, that by good deeds they imitate Him whom they worship, and hasten to return to His image and likeness, as we said before."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iit. p. 311.
"... Wherefore arise, and understand your salvation. For God is in need of no one, nor does He require anything, nor is He hurt by anything; but we are either helped or hurt, in that we are grateful or ungrateful. For what does God gain from our praises, or what does He lose by our blasphemies? Only (this we must remember), that God brings into proximity and friendship with Himself the soul that renders thanks to Him. But the wicked demon possesses the ungrateful soul."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. pp. 319-320.
"... We say that he is a worshipper of God, who does the will of God, and observes the precepts of His law. For in God's estimation he is not a Jew who is called a Jew among men (nor is be a Gentile that is called a Gentile), but he who, believing in God, fulfils His law and does His will, though he be not circumcised. He is the true worshipper of God, who not only is himself free from pas. sions, but also sets others free from them; though they may be so heavy that they are like mountains, he removes them by means of the faith with which he believes in God. Yea, by faith be truly removes mountains with their trees, if it be necessary ..."-(Recog. nitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 824.
“But when you have been regenerated by water, show by good works the likeness in you of that Father who hath begotten you. Now you know God, honour Him as a father; and His honour is, that you live according to His will. And His will is, that you 80 live as to know nothing of murder or adultery, to flee from hatred and covetousness, to put away anger, pride, and boasting, to abhor envy, and to count all such things entirely unsuitable to you."- (Recogni. tions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 333.
“... for only by holy service will any one be able to imitate God, and to serve and worship Him only by imitating Him. The
i

Page #100

88
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
heavenly and truly divine love comes to men thus, when in the soul itself the spark of true goodness, kindled in the soul by the Divine Word, is able to burst forth into flame; and, wbat 18 of the highest importance, salvation runs .parallel with sincere willingness-choice and life being, 60 to speak, yoked together. Wherefore this exhor tation of the truth alone, like the most faithful of our friends, abides with us till our last breath, and is to the whole and perfect spirit of the soul the kind attendant on our ascent to heaven."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 104.
"We will worship in the place where His feet bave stood."(Victorinus) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 396.
The idea is merely that of walking in the footsteps of the Teacher.
"The will of God is our sanctification, for He wishes His image-0--to become likewise H1B likeness'; that we may be
boly' just as He Himself 18 boly.'"-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. svui, p. 1.
"And after these things, He also placed man at the head of the world, and man, too, made in the image of God to whom be imparted mind, and reason, and foresight, that he might imitate God; And when He had given him all things for his service, He willed that be alone should be free."--(Cyprian) A.N.C.L. vol. xiii. p. 299.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." -Matt. v. 48.
"And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"-Luke vi. 46.
"... Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”—Luke xi. 28.
"Except ye repent, pe shall all likewise perish."-Luke sjii. 3. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John xiv. 16.
It may be pointed out that it is only permissible to meditate on allegorical conceptions, to think over the attributes of the gods and goddesses, to get at their true signification; but it is not permissible to worship them in any sense. The worship of the allegorical saviour,

Page #101

THE TRUE SENSE OF WORSHIP
89
whether you spell the word with a small or a capital 's', will, for this reason, only lead one to trouble. What is wanted for our salvation is walking in the footsteps of One who was actually born of human parents and who attained to Godhood, and whose life has not been involved in any kind of puzzling mysteries.
It is truly impossible to follow the conduct of an allegorical figure whose doings, more often than not, are deliberately shown to be contrary to what is becoming for the pious folk, as a form of metaphorical excellence, and have a secret significance. It is, therefore, correctly demanded by the author of the Recognitions of Clement:
" But I should like if those who worship idols would tell me if they wish to become like to those whom they worship? "-A.N.C.L. vol. 111. p. 311. And Clement rightly adds (A.N.C.L. vol. sii. p. 376):
"... It is our aim to discover what doing and in what manner of living we shall reap the knowledge of the sovereign God, and how, honouring the divinity, we may become the authors of our own salvation..."
“Dost thou wish to be a Christian? Imitate Christ in every. thing. Imitate me, my brethren, as I (imitate) Christ. For those who have put on Christ,' in truth, express his likeness in their thoughts, and in their whole life and in all their behaviour."(Methodius) A.N.C.L. vol. xiv. pp. 372-373.
The conclusion is that while it is necessary to imitate the true Saviour in all He did in connection with His Great Attainment, the copying, in action, of an allegorical being must necessarily lead to a perversion of Right Conduct. No one can, surely, be advantaged

Page #102

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
by copying the adulteries and lusts of allegorical deities, or by eating of meat and fish which certain allegorical saviours are described to have eaten, or even by such
pleasant' pastimes as the holding out of inducement for men to drink, by turning water into wine for their use !

Page #103

CHAPTER 18 :
IS THERE A CREATOR?
As regards the question about the existence of a creator the Jaina view is identically the same as that of modern science. Substance is eternal, and there is no room for any world-maker, nor the need of one. The properties, attributes and functions of different substances and combinations of substances should suffice to explain the world-process.
It has already been indicated to what extent Jainism differs from modern science in reference to the existence of the soul-substance, which is not recognised by the modern scientist. As we have seen and shall see again more fully, the body is a prison for the soul; assuming, then, that there was a Creator of it, he could not have been, by any possibility, a friend of the soul. The release of the soul from the body to attain perfection is the end in view, as has been already described.
The Christian view also really refused to recognise the being of a creator, though, outwardly, the language of the text, when carelessly interpreted, may be taken to be maintaining the existence of one. Fear of persecution prevented the founders of Christianity, and the early Fathers of the Church, from speaking out their mind openly on the subject. But they gave adequate and startling warnings every now and then, by interposing something in the midst of their descriptions which violently clashes with the notion of a Creator of the world or of the soul.
91

Page #104

92
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
Origen, for instance (A.N.C.L. vol. xxiii. p. 218), says: "God never made any thing mortal.” This should be sufficient to show that the account of the creation of the world given in the Book of Genesis is not to be read literally. The Jews also maintained (see Minhat Kenaot: referred to in the Jewish Encyclopedia vol. i. p. 253) :
" From Creation to Revelation all 18 parable."
Moses Maimonides (see the Guide for the Perplexed p. 207) describes the creation of heaven and earth as « The restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, its stability and permanence."
Origen (Philocalia, 16, 61, 225), Clement (A.N.C. L. vol. xii. pp. 239, 339, 476), and Hippolytus (A.N. O.L. vol. vi. p. 399) hold the account of the creation to be a secret doctrine which was not to be disclosed to the profane. St. Paul expressly speaks of the “ mystery of God ” in Col. ii. 2. Clement, like Origen, also tells us that the “ 'first creation of God' was Wisdom.”(A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 274.)
Other important quotations are as follows:
“But God has no natural relation to us, ... neither on the supposition of His having made us of nothing, nor on that of baving formed us from matter; neither portions of himself nor ... bis children ..."-(Clement, vol. 1) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 45.
"... Therefore that which is simple, and which is without any of those things by which that which subsists can be dissolved, is without doubt incomprehensible and infinite, knowing neither beginning nor end, and therefore is one and alone, and subsisting without an author. But that which is compound is subject to number, and diversity, and division,is necessarily compounded by some author, and is a diversity collected into one species."—(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. i. p. 365.

Page #105

IS THERE A CREATOR
93
"But let this impious and monstrous fancy be put far [from us], that Almighty God, the creator and framer, the author of the things great and invisible, should be believed to have begotten souls so fickle, with no seriousness, firmness, and steadiness, prone to vice, inclining to all kinds of sins; and while he knew that there were such and of this character, to have bid them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which, they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of fortune every day, and now do mean things, now submit to lewd treatment; that they might perish by shipwreck, accidents, destructive conflagrations "(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. pp. 112-113.
"These things are unworthy of him, and weaken the force of his greatness; and so far from his being believed to be their author, whoever imagines that man is sprung from Him is guilty of blas. phemous impiety, [man] a being miserable and wretched, who is sorry that he exists, hates and laments his state, and understands that he was produced for no other reason than lest evils should not have something through which to spread themselves, and that there might always be wretched ones by whose agonies some unseen and cruel power, adverse to men, should be gratified."-Ibid. pp. 114-115.
... we
"But, you say, if God is not the parent and father of souls, by what sire have they been begotten, and how have they been produced?... But are we bound to show whose they are, because we deny that they are God's? That by no means follows, for may not know who, indeed, gave them being, and [yet] assert that not by the Supreme Deity were [creatures] produced so useless, so needless, so purposeless, nay more, at times even hurtful, and causing unavoidable injuries. Here, too, in like manner, when we deny that souls are the offspring of God Supreme, it does not necessarily follow that we are bound to declare from what parent they have sprung, and by what causes they have been produced."-Ibid. p. 115. Béloved,' says he, now are we the sons of God,' not by natural affection, but because we have God as our father. For it is the greater love that, seeing we have no relationship to God, He nevertheless loves us and calls us His sons."-(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 151.
464
•
God does not even make any one respire; the soul respires itself.

Page #106

94
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"... Consequently, as the spirit neither of God 'nor of the devil is naturally planted with a man's soul at his birth, this soul must evidently exist apart and alone, previous to the accession to at of either spirit: if thus apart and alone, it must also be simple and uncompounded as regards its substance; and therefore it cannot respire from any other cause than from the actual condition of its own substance."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 435.
"... we have in a former passage stated as & preliminary fact, that the mind 18 nothing else than an apparatus or instrum of the soul, and that the spirit is no other faculty, separate from the soul, but us the soul itself exercised in respiration; although that influence which either God on the one hand, or the devil on the other, has breathed upon it, must be regarded in the light of an additional element."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 451.
The explanation of the text in Genesis ii. 7. which implies that God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life whereby man became a living soul is allegorical. It only means the coming of the soul under divine influence whereby it is enlivened. In other words, the inception of the aspiration for divine life, which revives the soul that was dead on account of ignorance.
The allegorical significance of the six days' creation' will be found in greater detail in the 9th chapter of my Key of Knowledge which may be read there; but it is necessary to point out that the ' Seventh Day' was interpreted by Methodius (A.N.C.L. vol. xiv. p. 100) to mean “ The millennium of rest which is called the Seventh Day, even the true Sabbath." This is certainly in keeping with the idea of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, as stated above; and has got to be understood in the sense of Israel standing for the soul itself. In plain language, what is meant is the reinstatement of the soul in its divinity, the completion of which means 'Eternal Sabbath and Peace.'

Page #107

IS THERE A CREATOR
95
It may also be added that in the allegorical sense, creation is deemed to have been made by the Word which does everything. This again is clear, that the restoration of the soul's divinity can only be accomplished by divine wisdom appearing in the consciousness of the soul. Divine Wisdom is the first to manifest itself in the consciousness of those involved in ignorance, and then it will remove the confusion and chaos from the mind of the soul, and people it with true conceptions and ideas and emotions, described as various kinds of things, beasts and animals, in the account' of the Creation, in the Book of Genesis.
The body is a prison for the soul (Arnobius: A.N. C.L. vol. sis. p. 113 cited ante); it is described as vile in St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians (chapter üi. 21); and St. Paul cries out against it in the agony of anguish:
"O wretched man that I am who shall rid me of the body of this death? "--Romans vi. 24.
Certainly no sensible man will ever dream of giving thanks to any one for the making of such an enemy!
It will be noticed that with reference to the Word, Cyprian states :
"For this is He who strengthened their hearts and minds ... This is He who places propbets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, offers discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, sog. gests counsels and orders, and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismat& ..."-A.N.C.L. vol. xiii. p. 372.
This really means that souls accomplish their salvation by their own risdom, not that of anyone else from outside. In other words, the soul is its own

Page #108

96
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
creator, and as such to be loved with one's whole heart; for all the good things in the world which the soul enjoys are due to its own divinity.
The only work of Gods, is the salvation of men, not the creation of anything:
"No one will be so impressed by the exhortations of any of the saints, as he is by the words of the Lord Himself, the lover of man. For this, and nothing but this, is His only work--the salvation of man."--(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 83.
"... now it is well pleasing to Him that we should be saved, and salvation is effected through both well-doing and knowledge, of both of which the Lord is the teacher."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 376.
Gods, that is those who have attained to Godhood, enjoy unbroken bliss, which is incompatible with the idea of creation.
Salvation, too, is not and cannot be forced on any one. The Gods only imparted the Teaching of Truth to men before entering Narvana. For no Teacher or God or Goddess can possibly help another from outside, except in so far as instruction is given, as already stated.
"But those who know Him not He does not heal: not that He does not wish to do so, but because it is not lawful to afford to those who, through want of judgment, are like to irrational animals, the good things which have been prepared for the children of the kingdom."--(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 59.
"It is impossible for a man to be steadily good except by his own choice. For he that is made good by compulsión of another is not good ; for he is not what he is by his own choice. For it is the freedom of each one that makes true goodness and reveals real wickedness. Whence through these dispositions God contrived to make His own disposition manifest."—(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 167.

Page #109

IS THERE A CREATOR
97
The idea of propitiation of a God is to be condemned whole-heartedly.
"But the true gods, and those who are worthy to have and wear the dignity of this name, neither conceive anger nor indulge in a grudge, nor do they contrive by insidious devices what may be hurtful to another party. For verily it is profane, and surpasses all acts of sacrilege, to believe that that wise and most blessed nature is uplifted in mind if one prostrate himself before it in humble adoration; and if this adoration be not paid, that it deems itself despis. ed, and regards itself as fallen from the pinnacle of its glory. It 18 childish, weak, and petty, and scarcely becoming for those whom the experience of learned men 'has for a long time called demi-gods and heroes, not to be versed in heavenly things, and, divesting them. selves of their own proper state, to be busied with the coarser matter of earth."-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 17.
“For ... we think that they [if only they are true gods ...] should have all the virtues in perfection, should be wise, upright, venerable, if only our heaping buman honours upon them is not a crime), strong in excellencies within themselves, and should not give themselves up to external props, because the completeness of their unbroken bliss is made perfect ; [should be] free from all agitating and disturbing passions; should not born with anger, should not be excited by any desires; should send misfortune to none, should not find & cruel pleasure in the ills of men ... should not show prodigies to cause fear; should not hold [men] responsible and liable to be punished for the vows which they owe, nor demand expiatory sacrifices by threatening omens ..."-Ibid. p. 272.
"... And if we remember the definition which we should always bear steadily in mind, that all agitating feelings are unknown to the gods, the consequence is a belief that the gods are never angry; nay, rather, that no passion is further from them than that which, approaching most nearly to the spirit of wild beasts and savage creatures, agitates those who suffer it with tempestuous feelings, and bringe them into danger of destruction. For - whatever is harassed by any kind of disturbance, is, it is clear, capable of suffering, and frail; that which has been subjected to suffering and frailty must be mortal; but anger harasses and destroys those who are
F.7

Page #110

98
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
subject to it: therefore that should be called mortal which has been made subject to the emotions of anger. But yet we know that the gods should be never-dying, and should possess an immortal nature; and if this is clear and certain, anger has been separated far from them and from their state. On no ground, then, is it fitting to wish to appease that in the gods above which you see cannot suit their blessed state."-Ibid. p. 811.
The significancy of Origen's observation that God never made anything mortal lies in the fact that the creation of Wisdom Divine is to enjoy the immortality of Nirvana. In plain language, Wisdom Divine (the Word) only brings into manifestation the real natural attributes of the soul-substance, which, on the soul's liberation, know not deterioration, destruction or decay. The Word is not the creator of anything else certainly not of anything that perishes, e.g., the physical body!

Page #111

CHAPTER 16
THE ATTRIBUTES OF DIVINITY
The Jaina idea is that the form of God is only that of man. The soul of the Perfect Man retains permanently the stamp of His form, and that is the Divine Form; but Gods have no sex. Sex pertains to the body; when the bodies are rid of completely, then sex also disappears. Jainism does not endorse the view that a God can be a shapeless mass, or a flame-like thing. It also refuses to accord its assent to the supposition that the entirety of the universe can be taken as one organic whole to be termed god. Gods are not all-pervading; their size is about that of the physical body, from which Godhood was attained. When soul's agitations cease, then its form becomes fixed permanently. Divinity enjoys unbroken bliss eternally. The Christian views on the subject are as follows :
1. (Divinity not all-pervading) :" They were misled by what 18 said in the Book of Wisdom : He pervades and passes to all by reason of his purity '; since they did not understand that this was said of Wisdom, which was the first of the creations of God."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 274.
"These philosophers (Strato, Ænesidemus, and Heraclitus) maintain the unity of the soul, as diffused over the entire body, and yet in every part the same."-A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 439.
"But it is not as a portion of God that the spirit is in each of de ..."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 278.
" This is the mystery of the hebdomad. For He Himself is the rest of the whole who grants Himself. as a rest to those who imitate His greatness within their little measure. For He is alone, some-,
99

Page #112

100
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
times comprehensible, sometimes incomprehensible, (sometimes limitable) sometimes illimitable, having extensions which proceed from Fim into infinity. For thus He is comprehensible and incomprehenaible, near and far, being here ond there, as being the only existent one ..."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.O.L. vol. xvii. p. 264.
2. (Sexlessness of Gods) :
"And yet, that no thoughtless person may raise a false accusa. tion against us, as though we believe God whom we worship to be male,--for this reason, that is, that when we speak of him we use & masculine word, let hin understand that it is not sex which is expressed, but his name, and its meaning according to custom, and the way in which we are in the habit of using worde. For the Deity is not male, bat his name is of the masculine gender ... We cannot, then, be prevailed upon to believe that the divine is embodied; for bodies must Deeds be distinguished by difference of sex, if they are male and female. For who, however mean his capacity, does not know that the sexes of different gender have been ordained and formed by the Creator of the creatures of earth, only that, by intercourse and union of bodies that which is fleeting and transient may endure being ever renewed and maintained ? "-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix, pp. 154-155.
"I will not bring forward the opinions of w18e men, who cannot restrain their laughter when they hear distinctions of sex attributed to the immortal gods: I ask of each man whether he himself believes in his own mind, and persuades himself that the race of gods is [80] distinguished that they are male and female, and have been formed with members arranged suitably for the begetting of young?" Ibid. p. 326.
"But to Christians, after their departure from the world, no restoration of marriage is promised in the day of resurrection, translated as they will be into the condition and sanctity of angels." (Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 280.
3. (God not the entirety of the world taken as an, organic whole) :
"For as one man cannot, while his body remains entire, be divided into many men; nor can many men, while they continue to

Page #113

THE ATTRIBUTES OF DIVINITY
101
be distinct and separate from each other, be fused into one sentient individual so, if the world is a single animal, and moves from the impulse of one mind, neither can it be dispersed in several deities; nor, if the gods are parts of it, can they be brought together and changed into one living creature, with unity of feeling throughout all its parts. The moon, the sun, the earth, the ether, the stars, are members and parts of the world; but if they are parts and members, they are certainly not themselves living creatures; for in no thing can parts be the very thing which the whole is, or think and feel for themselves. . ."-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 174.
1
The mystery referred to above in the passage from Clementine Homilies (A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 264) is easy of explanation. A God is limitable with respect to His size, but illimitable with respect to His knowledge which is infinite. We can understand that He must be in the, enjoyment of infinite bliss to which extent He is comprehensible, but He is incomprehensible in so far as we do not know what is the actual feeling of that bliss, and so forth.
4. (Nothing that has been created' is divine) :"For as it belongs to Him who alone is uncreated to be God, so everything that has been created is not truly God."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 313.
"
40
C
5. (Other Divine Attributes) :
They neither have any likeness to man, nor look for anything which is outside of them and comes from without them, and this has been said pretty frequently, that they do not burn with the fire of anger, that they do not give themselves passionately to sensual pleasure, that they, are not bribed to be of service, that they are not tempted to injure [our enemies], that they do not sell their kindness and favour, that they do not rejoice in having honour heaped upon them, that they are not indignant and vexed if it is not given; but-and this belongs to the divine that by their own power they know themselves, and that they do not rate themselves

Page #114

102
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
by the obsequiousness of others."-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 322.
"For to say that the gods are most benevolent, and have gentle dispositions, is not only pious and religious, but also true; but that they are evil and sinister, should by no means be listened to, inasmuch as divine power has been far removed and separated from the disposition which does harm."-Ibid. p. 330.
(With reference to the action of things on different beings) "But the cause of this is not in the things which cannot be at one and the same time deadly and wholesome, sweet and bitter; but just as each one has been formed to receive impressions from what is external, so he is affected: his condition is not caused by the influences of the things, but spring from the nature of his own senses, and connection with the external. But all this is set far from the gods, and separated from them by no small interval."-Ibid. pp. 337388.
66
... And if we remember the definition which we should always bear steadily in mind, that all agitating feelings are unknown to the gods, the consequence is, a belief that the gods are never angry; nay, rather, that no passion is further from them than that which, approaching most nearly to the spirit of wild beasts and savage creatures, agitates those who suffer it with tempestuous feelings, and brings them into danger of destruction."-Ibid. p. 312.
"But if Adam, being the work of God, had foreknowledge, much more the God who created him. And that is false which is written that God reflected, as if using reasoning on account of ignorance; and that the Lord tempted Abraham, that He might know if he would endure it; and that which 18 written, Let us go down, and see if they are doing according to the cry of them which cometh to me; and if not, that I may know.'"-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C. L. vol. xvu. p. 76.
""
And if He deliberates, and changes His purpose, who is perfect in understanding, and permanent in design? If He envies, who is above rivalry? If He hardens hearts, who makes wise? If He makes blind and deaf, who has given sight and hearing? "-Ibid. p. 53.
"If He is false, who then 18 true? If He dwells in a tabernacle, who is without bounds? If He is fond of fat, and sacrifices;

Page #115

THE ATTRIBUTES OF DIVINITY
103
and offerings, and drink offerings, who then is without need, and who is holy, and pure and perfect? If He is pleased with candles and candle-sticks, who then placed the luminaries in heaven? If He dwells in shadow, and darkness and storm, and smoke, who is the light that lightens the universe? If He comes with trumpets, and shoutings, and darts, and arrows, who is the looked-for tranquillity of all? If He loves war, who then wishes peace? If He makes evil things, who makes good things?"-Ibid. p. 53.
"If therefore the human mind, not only by reason, but even by a sort of natural instinct, rightly holds this opinion, that that is called God to which nothing can be compared or equalled, but which exceeds all and excels all; how can it be supposed that that name which is believed to be above all, is rightly given to those whom you think to be employed for the service and comfort of human life? "(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 316.

Page #116

CHAPTER 17
THE BONDAGE OF SIN
The union of spirit and matter is very unfortunate for the former. It is deprived thereby, to a very great extent, of its natural attributes and powers. The body is like a prison and curtails the freedom of the soul more mischievously than an earthly prison does. The enemy, that is, matter, pours into the soul with every word, thought or deed, which is concerned not with itself but with the other-than-itself.' This union is termed a bondage of karmas (karmas signifying actions of all kinds, mental, vocal and physical) as defined above.
In combination with matter, the soul is deprived, amongst other things, of its knowledge and the natural joy, and becomes subject to birth and death from which a purified Spirit or Soul is free altogether.
The Christian views on the subject are as follows:
"... flesh... separates and limits the knowledge of those that are spiritual ... for sonls themselves by themselves are equal."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 362.
"For bound in this earthly body we apprehend the objects of sense by means of the body."—(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xü. p. 224.
"Flis own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sins."-Proverbs v. 22.
“The mental acumen of those who are in the body seems to bé blunted by the nature of corporeal matter."-(Origen) A.N.C.L. vol. 1. p. 82.
104

Page #117

THE BONDAGE OF SIN
106
“Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? "-Romans vi. 16.
"When it is said that the Son will reveal Him to whom He wishes, it is meant that such an one is to learn of Him not by instruction, but by revelation only. For it is revelation when that which lies secretly veiled in all the hearts of men is revealed (udveiled) by His (God's) own will without any utterance. And thus knowledge comes to one, not because he bas been instructed, but because he has understood." -(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. XVII, p. 278.
"But that you may know that ignorance of itself brings destruction, (I assure you that) when the soul departs from the body, if it leave it in ignorance of Him by whom it was created, and from whom in this world it obtained all things that were necessary for its uses, it is driven forth from the light of His kingdom 88 ungrateful and unfaithful."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii.
p. 314.
"... As a burnished mirror, so ought man to have bus soul pure. When there 2e rust on the mirror, it is not possible that a man's face be seen in the mirror; 80 also when there is sin in & man, such a man cannot behold God. Do you, therefore, show me yourself, whether you are not an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a purloiner; whether you do not corrupt boys; whether you are not insolent, or & slanderer, or passionate, or envious, or proud, or supercilious; whether you are not a brawler, or covetous, or disobedient to parents; and whether you do not sell pour children ; for to those who do these things God is not manifest, unless they have first cleansed themselves from all impurity. All these things, then, involve you in darkness, as when a filmy defluxion on the eyes prevents one from beholding the light of the sun : thus also do iniquities, Oman, involve you in darkness, so that you cannot see God."-(Theophilus) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 64.
"For every cause of sin seems to be like tow smeared with pitch, which immediately breaks into flame as soon as it receives the heat of fire; and the kindling of this fire is understood to be the work of demons. If, therefore, any one be found smeared with sing and lusts as with pitch, the fire easily gets the mastery of him. But

Page #118

· 106
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
if the tow be not steeped in the pitch-af sin, but in the water of purification and regeneration, the fire of the demons shall not be able to be kindled in it."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 407.
“Pardon me, my son ... for I have not yet much pr&ctice in these things : for indeed your discourses yesterday, by their truth, shut me up to agree with you; yet in my consciousness there are, as it were, some remains of fevers, which for a little hold me back from faith, as from health, For I am distracted, because I know that many things, yea, almost all things, have befallen me according to Genesis."-Ibid. p. 433.
“It is the rational element which we must believe to be its [soul's] natural condition ... The irrational element, however, we must understand to have accrued later, as having proceeded from the instigation of the serpent--the very achievement of the first) transgression--which thenceforward became inherent in the soul, and grew with its growth, assuming the manner by this time of a natural development, happening as it did immediately at the beginning of nature . . All sin, however, is irrational."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 442.
“For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ, since Christ is also God. Therefore, when the soul embraces the faith, being renewed in its second birth by water and the power from above, then the veil of its former corruption being aken away, it beholds the light in all its brightness."-Ibid. p. 506.
"For the demons (1.e., desires allegorically*], having power by means of the food given to them, are admitted into your bodies by your own hands; and lying hid there for a long time, they become blended with your souls. And through the carelessness of those who think not, or even wish not, to help themselves, upon the dissolution of their bodies, their souls being united to the demon, are of necessity borne by it into whatever places it pleases. And what is most terrible of all, when at the end of all things the demon is first consigned to the purifying fire, the soul which is mixed with it is under the necessity of being horribly punished, and the demon of being pleased. For the soul, being made of light, and not le of bearing
* See Chapter 19.

Page #119

107
the heterogeneous flames of fire, is tortured; but the demon, being in the substance of his own kind, is greatly pleased, becoming the strong chain of the soul that he has swallowed up."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 152.
"But let this impious and monstrous fancy be put far [from us], that Almighty God, . should be believed to have begotten souls... and... to have bid them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of fortune every day "(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. pp. 112-113.
THE BONDAGE OF SIN
"But the reason why the demons delight in entering into men'sbodies is this. Being spirits, and having desires after meats and drinks, and sexual pleasures, but not being able to partake of these by reason of their being spirits, and wanting organs fitted for their enjoyment, they enter into the bodies of men, in order that, getting, organs to minister to them, they may obtain the things that they wish, whether it be meat, by means of men's teeth, or sexual pleasure, by means of men's members. Hence, in order to the putting of demons to flight, the most useful help is abstinence, and fasting, and suffering of affliction. For if they enter into men's bodies for the sake of sharing (pleasures), it is manifest that they are put to flight by suffering. But inasmuch as some, being of a more malignant kind, remain by the body that is undergoing punishment, though they are punished with it, therefore it is needful to have recourse to God by prayers and petitions, refraining from every occasion of impurity, that the hand of God may touch him for his cure, as being pure and faithful."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 153. "Do you dare to laugh at us because we see to the salvation of our souls?-that is, ourselves (care) for ourselves: for what are we men, but souls shut up in bodies?"-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 79.
"For the image of God is in every man, though His likeness is not in all, but where the soul is benign and the mind pure ... yea, rather be assured, that whoever commits murder or adultery, or anything that causes suffering or injury to men, in all these things the image of God is violated." Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C. L. vol. iii. p. 317.
"There is a persecution which arises from without, from men assailing the peaceful, either out of hatred, or envy, or avarice, or

Page #120

108
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
through diabolic agency. But the most painful is internal persecution, which proceeds from each man's own soul being vexed by im. pious lusts, and diverse pleasures, and babe hopes, and destructive dreams; when, always groeping at more, and maddened by brutish loves, and inflamed by the passions which beset it like goads and stings, it is covered with blood, (to drive it on) to insane pursuits, and to despair of life, and to contempt of God. More grievous and painful is this persecution which arises from within, which is ever with a man, and which the persecuted cannot escape; for he carries the enemy about everywhere in himself. Thus also burning which attack from without works trial, but that from within produces death. War also made on one is easily put an end to, but that wbich is in the soul continues till death."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xx. p. 203.
"For whenever the soul is sown by others, then it is forsaken by the Spirit, as guilty of fornication or adultery; and so the living body, the life-giving spirit being withdrawn, is dissolved into dust, and the rightful punishment of sin is suffered at the time of the judgment by the soul, after the dissolution of the body."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 69.
"But sentiments erroneous, and deviating from what is right, and certainly pernicious, have turned man, a creature of heavenly origin, away from the heavenly life, and stretched him on the earth, by inducing him to cleave to earthly objects."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 34."
" Every one who hateth his brother 18 a murderer. For in bim through unbelief Christ dies. Rightly, therefore, he continues, 'And ye know that no murderer and unbeliever hath eternal life abiding in him.' For the living Christ abides in the believing soul."- (Syriac. Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 162.
“Repentance, then, becomes capable of wiping out every sin, when on the occurrence of the soul's fault it admits no delay, and does not let the impulse pass on to a long space of time. For it is in this way that evil will be unable to leave & trace in us, being plucked away at the moment of its assault like a newly planted plant."-Ibid. p. 164.
"... and shoes, not those perishable ones which he that hath Bet his foot on holy ground is bidden to take off, nor such as he who is sent to preach the kingdom of heaven is forbidden to put on....

Page #121

THE BONDAGE OF SIN
.
109
Many, truly, are the shoes of the sinful soul, by which it is bound and cramped. For each man is cramped by the cords of his own sins.”—Ibid. pp. 168-169.
"Sail past the song; it works death. Exert your will only, and you have overcome ruin; bound to the wood of the cross, thou shalt be freed from destruction : the word of God will be thy pilot, and the Holy Spirit will bring thee to anchor in the haven of heaven."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 106.
“Man, that had been free by reason of simplicity, was found fettered to sins. The Lord then wished to release him from his bonds, and clothing Himself with flesh divine mysteryl-vanquished the serpent, and enslaved the tyrant death; and, most marvellous of all, man that had been deceived by pleasure, and bound fast to corruption, had his hands unloosed, and was set free. O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, and man rose up; and he that fell from Paradise receives as the reward of obedience something greater (than Paradise)-Damely, heaven itself."-Ibid. p. 100.
"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."-Romans viii. 21.
"But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"-Romans vii. 23-24.
"... he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bound."-Luke iv. 18.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever : but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."John viii. 32-36.
The above abundantly show that the soul's present condition of embodiment is a very unfortunate and undesirable one. It is held in the bondage of sin whereby the Christ element has died within it. We shall study the nature of sin and matter in the next chapter a little

Page #122

110
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
. more in detail. It is sufficient in this place to mention , that matter pours in with every one of its actions into
the soul and constitutes a terrible bondage, shutting it out from knowledge as if forming a film over its eyes (consciousness).
"Save me, o God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing : I am come unto deep waters, where the floods overflow me."-Ps. Ixix. 1 & 2.
"The individual man is stamped according to the impression produced in the soul by the objects of his choice."-(Clement) A.N.O.L. vol. xii. p. 214.
Water is a symbol for matter.
"... matter is allegorically called water, the abyss."-A.N.C. L. vol. xxiv. p. 117.
" And 18 not baptism itself, which is the sign of regeneration, an escape from matter, by the teaching of the Seviour, a great impetuous stream, ever rushing on and bearing us along? The Lord accordingly, leading us out of disorder, illumines us by bringing us into light, which is shadowless and 18 material no longer."-Ibid. p. 118.
"... For they were afraid that if they received not in this world the punishment of the sins which, in numbers through ignorance, accompany those that are in the flesh, they would in the other world suffer the penalty all at once..."-Ibid. p. 119.
"But since that which is saved is like wheat, and that which grows in the soul like chaff, and the one is incorporeal, and that which is separated is material ... "-Ibid. p. 124.
In the following quotations there is a mention of the emptying of matter from the soul, termed nirjarā in Jainism :
"Especially does fasting empty the soul of matter. ..."(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 121.
" And for this reason the Saviour was baptized, though not HimBelf needing to be so in order that He might consecrate the whole

Page #123

THE BONDAGE OF SIN
111
water for those who were being regenerated ... It is accordingly & sign of the sanctifying of our invisible part, and of the straining off from the new and spiritual creation of the unclean spirits that have got mixed up with the soul."--A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 119.
"... 80 also ought we to fast from worldly things, that we may due to the world, and after that, partaking of the divine susteDance, live to God. Especially does fasting empty the soul of matter, and make it, along with the body, pure and light for the divine words. Worldly food is the former life and sin; but the divine food is faith, hope, love, patience, knowledge, peace, temperance. For 'blessed are they tbat hunger and thirst after God's righteousness for they shall be filled' (Matt. v. 6). The soul, but not the body, it 18 which is susceptible of this craving."-Ibid. p. 121.
Finally, when all matter is completely separated from the soul and it has gone to the sacred abode of the Gods—the topmost part of the Universe-(above the perishable heavens) it could not be defiled by anything afresh.
"And there shall is no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh & lie..." Rev. xxi. 27.

Page #124

CHAPTER 18
TRANSMIGRATION AND NIRVANA
The Jaina view is that the soul does not organise a body for itself only once in its career throughout the eternity of time. An interminable succession of bodies is put on until Nirvana is reached. So long as it remains in association with matter, the bodies, and, consequently, transmigration, are inevitable. When Nirvana is attained, the soul is completely rid of the taint of matter, and bodies can no longer be formed. The souls in Nirvana only exist in the natural effulgence of the spirit substance. On this side of Nirvana the soul may go to heavens which are inhabited by perishable beings with bodies somewhat different from ours. In the heavens the conditions of life are very pleasant. The reverse of the heavens are hells which are also terminable and by no means eternal. The soul may be reborn in the heavens if it has done good meritorious deeds; it may be attracted into hell if it has led a wicked life; it may also be reborn amongst men or descend into the lower kingdoms of animals and vegetables, etc. The whole thing is a question of its internal disposition and character,
The Christian view on this subject is involved in much mystification, because this is one of the subjects on which plain speech would have entailed immediate death, inasmuch as the Jews no longer expressly entertained the belief in transmigration, although it was an
112

Page #125

TRANSMIGRATION & NIRVANA
113
integral part of their creed, originally, and still forms a part of their esoteric faith.* It should be remembered that Origen was degraded because he openly declared in favour of the doctrine of re-incarnation,
Three states of the hereafter are described in the Christian literature: (1) Resurrection; (2) Resurrection in flesh; (3) Being sent to the outer darkness.
(1) Resurrection is supported by the authority of the text in Luke xx. 34-36.
"... The children of this world marry, and are given in mat. riage : But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage : Neither can they die any more : for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."
This means Nirvana pure and simple, because (a) It is obtained by individual work and worth
They who are accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead,' etc.
(b) The soul that has risen has no body, and is consequently sexless.
(c) It is termed ' a Son of God.' (d) It cannot die any more. .
(2) Resurrection in flesh means rebirth, for the body is an instrument of punishment.' The soul whose life has not been characterised by Right Conduct will
* Cf. "Now of these souls some descend upon the earth with a view to being bound up in mortal bodies, those namely which are most nearly connected with the earth, and which are lovers of the body. But some soar upwards . . . Of these those which are influenced by & desire for mortal life, and which have been familiarised to it, again return to it ..."_Yonge's Philo Judæus vol. ü. p. 321.
F. 8

Page #126

114
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
have resurrection in flesh, repeatedly, till it is able to purify itself, if ever.
(3) Those who go to the outer darkness fall back into a condition of embodied esistence which is the very lowest and in which knowledge is all but lost, that is to say, in which there is only the barest susceptibility to sensations of touch left. This is characteristic of a form of vegetable life. In the Jaina Literature this condition is described as Nigoda. .
So great was the anxiety of the founders of the Christian creed to conceal their true views on this point that they seldom allowed themselves to be betrayed into open expression concerning it in any way. In the Gospels, 'the rising from the dead' was a mystery concerning which it is said that even the disciples understood it not (Luke xviü, 32-34; Mark ix. 10; Ibid. Xxxi, 32). In Philippians üi. 11, St. Paul's anxiety concerning the rising from the dead is only too apparent: “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
In Ephesians v. 14 it is said “... Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
This exhortation, coupled with the statement that' resurrection is attainable only by individual merit and work conclusively points to Nirvana being the original conception in the minds of the speakers, and suffices to negative the idea of a general resurrection at the end of the world-process. Thus, there are two kinds of future states for the faithful soul in the Christian teaching, namely :
1. Eternal life as Sons of God; and

Page #127

TRANSMIGRATION & NIRVANA
115
2. Such good things as can only be enjoyed through embodied existence, as for instance, the earth' which is promised to the meek.
“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. v. 5); and the hundred-fold promised to everyone who 'forsakes houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, or wife, or lands' (Matt. xix. 19).
The wicked soul may experience a fall into any of the following conditions, according to its sins:
1. the human kingdom,
2. rebirth in hells or among animals or still lower beings, and
3. 'the outer darkness that is to say, deprivation or loss of light and knowledge, as descriþed already.
In the language of the Bible the word 'heaven 2 is sometimes used in an allegorical and sometimes in a natural sense. In the allegorical sense it signifies a condition in which riddance from matter has been attained, in other words, the attainment of Nirvana. In the ordinary sense, the word means a distant or higher region, like this earth, which is peopled by living beings who are not unperishing though endowed with greater powers than ourselves.
In the same way, the word 'hell' has a double signification in the Bible: an allegorical and a plain one. Allegorically, the term means the condition of being involved in matter, which is always one of suffering and beset with birth, decay and death. In the plain sense, the term means a distant region of space where conditions of existence are very very painful. But the

Page #128

116
soul's sojourn is not eternal even in the 'hells,' as the Psalmist says:
+
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell."-Ps. xvi. 10.
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
Those who enter into the Kingdom of Heaven are deemed to have attained Nirvana.
.
The following quotations are worthy of note:
But to Christians, after their departure from the world, no restriction of marriage is promised in the day of resurrection, translated as they will be into the condition and sanctity of angels."A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 280.
"But that you may know that ignorance of itself brings destruction, (I assure you that) when the soul departs from the body, it is driven forth from the light... as ungrateful and unfaithful.". (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 314.
"From all these things, therefore, it is concluded that all evil springs from ignorance; and ignorance herself, the mother of all evils, is sprung from carelessness and sloth, and is nourished, and increased, and rooted in the senses of men by negligence; and if any one teach that she is to be put to fight, she is with difficulty and indig. nantly torn away, as from an ancient and hereditary abode... (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ii. p. 305.
"But the sole cause of our wanting and being deprived of all these things 18 ignorance. For while men do not know how much good there is in knowledge, they do not suffer the evil of ignorance to be removed from them; for they know not how great a difference is involved in the change of one of these things for the other. Wherefore I counsel every learner willingly to lend his ear to the word of God, and to hear with love of the truth what we say, 'that his mind, receiving the best seed, may bring forth joyful fruits by good deeds."— (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. 'vol. ii. p. 307.
16
...
. For if any one should take a deadly drug in ignorance, does he not die? So naturally sins destroy the sinner, though he commit them in ignorance of what is right."-(Clementine Homilies) A:N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 166.
The word destruction does not mean annihilation,
"

Page #129

117
because we have already seen that even souls of the wicked are immortal.
TRANSMIGRATION & NIRVANA
"1
For the demons, [i.e., desires allegorically] having power by means of the food given to them, are admitted into your bodies by your own hands; and lying hid there for a long time, they become blended with your souls. And through the carelessness of those who think not, or even wish not, to help themselves, upon the dissolution of their bodies, their souls being united to the demon, are of necessity borne by it into whatever places it pleases."-Ibid. p. 152.
our...
"But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence;, inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely built city of Jerusalem, let down from heaven,' which the apostle calls our mother from above,' and, while declaring that citizenship is in heaven, he predicates of it that it is really a city in heaven. . . And the word of the new prophecy which is a part of our belief, attests how it foretold that there would be for a sign a picture of this very city exhibited to view previous to its manifestation . . . Of the heavenly kingdom this is the process : After its thousand years are over, within which period is completed the resurrection of the saints, who rise sooner or later according to their deserts, there will ensue the destruction of the world and the conflagration of all things at the judgment; we shall then be changed in a moment into the substance of angels, even by the investiture of an incorruptible nature, and so be removed to that kingdom in heaven of which we have now been treating... So are we first invited to heavenly blessings when we are separated from the world, and afterwards we thus find ourselves in the way of obtaining also earthly blessings."-(Tertullianus) A N.C.L. vol. vii. pp. 170-172.
"All souls are immortal, even those of the wicked, for whom it were better that they were not deathless. For, punished with the endless vengeance of quenchless fire, and not dying, it is impossible for them to have a period put to their misery."-A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. P. 163.
I
The term quenchless fire' should be read as implying unending suffering in transmigration.
8

Page #130

118
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
“There is nothing after death, according to the school of Epicurus. After death all things come to an end, even death itself, says Seneca to like effect. It is satisfactory, however, that the no less important philosophy of Pythagoras and Empedocles, and the Platonists, take the contrary view, and declare the soul to be immortal; affirming, moreover, in a way which most nearly approaches (to our own doctrine), that the soul actually returns into bodies, although not the same bodies and not even those of human beings invariably: thus Euphorbus is supposed to have passed into Pythagoras, and Homer into a Peacock. They firmly pronounced the soul's renewal to be in a body, (deeming at) more tolerable to change the quality (of the corporeal state) than to deny it wholly : they at least knocked at the door of truth, although they entered not. Thus the world with all its errors, does not ignore the resurrection of the dead."-(Tertullianus) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 216.
“If there is any ground for moving to and fro of human souls into different bodies, why may they not return into the very substance they have left, seeing this is to be restored, to be that which had been? They are no longer the very things they had been; for they could not be what they were not, without first ceasing to be what they had been. If we were inclined to give all rein on this point, discussing into what various beasts one and another might probably be changed, we would need at our leisure to take up many points. But this we would do chiefly in our own defence as setting forth what 18 greatly worthier of belief, that a man will come back from a man, any given person from any given person, still retaining his humanity; so that the soul, with its qualities unchanged, may be restored to the same condition, though not to the same outward framework ... And therefore the body too will appear; for the soul is not capable of suffering without the solid substance, that is, the flesh; and for this reason also, that it is not right that souls should have all the wrath of God to bear : they did not sin without the body, within which all was done by them ...
"... Thou, man, of nature so exalted, if thou understand thy. self, ... lord of all these things that die and rise [like seasons, fruits, etc.)—shalt thou die to perish evermore? Wherever your dissolution shall have taken place, whatever material agent has des. troyed you, or swallowed you up, or swept you away, or reduced you

Page #131

TRANSMIGRATION & NIRVANA
119
to nothingness, it shall again restore you . . . You ask : Shall we then be always dying, and rising up from death? If so the Lord of all things had appointed, you would have to submit, though unwillingly, to the law of your creation ... And therefore after this there is neither death nor repeated resurrections, but we shall be the same that we are now, and still unchanged the servants of God, ever with God, clothed upon with the proper substance of eternity ; but the profane, and all who are not true worshippers of God, in like manner consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire ..."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol, X1. pp. 133-136.
“When the world, indeed, shall pass away, then the kingdom of heaven shall be opened.”-A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 581.
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples : and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."-1 Cor. x. 11.
The expression the end or destruction of the world signifies only the end of the transmigratory career of the soul, so that those who have already attained Nirvana have had the ends of the world come upon them' in the language of the text, notwithstanding that. the world is still continuing. The text which reads:
"But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."-Matt. xix. 30. is intelligible only on the supposition of a race that continues for some time, and where the beginning and the end both are not fixed.
"If you have respect for old age, be wise, now that you have reached life's sunset; and albeit at the close of life, acquire the knowledge of God, that the end of life may to you prove the begin. ning of salvation."—(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 97.
The beginning of salvation' must also have a maturing and ending somewhere which can only be done through embodied life, which will be discarded for the divine life when the soul enters Nirvana, after having

Page #132

120
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
completed the course of training and the process of purging the element of matter from its constitution, through successive and repeated resurrections,' that is to say, in plain language, through successive re-incarnations or rebirths.
C
I
Clement explains the point in this way, that after the adoption of the Right Faith, if it is grounded on scientific conviction, the soul is always changing for the better, in every succeeding incarnation, obtaining the highest excellences even in the state of embodied existence; and this process continues till it is able to attain to perfection. He is right, therefore, when he says:
"Accordingly after the highest excellence in flesh, changing always duly to the better, he urges his flight to the ancestral hall, through the holy septenniad to the Lord's own mansions; to be a light, steady, and continuing eternally, entirely and in every part immutable."-A.N.C.L. vol. x. p. 455.
As regards the final resurrection, Methodius (A.N. C.L. vol. xiv. p. 96) points out:
"For account the resurrection to be the erection of the taber
"1
nacle.
·
But what is the tabernacle itself? It is the heavenly dwelling' of the soul (Ibid. p. 51):
"For the pattern which was shown to Moses' in the mount, to which he was to have regard in fashioning the Tabernacle, was a kind of accurate representation of the heavenly dwelling, which we now perceive more clearly than through types, yet more darkly than if we saw the reality."
It was a state which was to be attained by right living:
"
"Account that the things which are taken for the putting together of the tabernacle are the works of righteousness."-Ibid. p. 96.

Page #133

TRANSMIGRATION & NIRVANA
121 It may be mentioned that according to Philo Judæus, tre interpreter of the Jewish allegories, the tabernacle meant the form of “ Wisdom."-Yonge's Philo Judæus vol. i. p. 119.
On the scientific side of the question, the soul's birth in this life could not possibly mean its first appearance in embodied form, for such an event would be absolutely lawless. As we shall see later on, a soul that is completely rid of matter cannot be reborn as an embodied being. Birth in the present form must, therefore, have been preceded by death elsewhere, and as a 'fall' into embodied condition is not possible after Nirvana, the condition of the soul now involved in the bondage of matter must have been the same throughout the past eternity of time.
As for the point whether the human soul may be reborn among animals and the lower kingdoms, regarding which there seems to be a conflict between some of the tests, the truth of the matter is that the soul of the knower of Truth does not, usually, descend into the hells or into any of the lower forms, but progresses on, changing always duly to the better, to use the language of Clement of Alexandria (A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 455), though the souls of others not endowed with Right Faith are all liable to fall into the lower grades of life, and may even be reborn in the hells. The seeming conflict is thus not a real conflict in any
.
sense.

Page #134

CHAPTER 19
HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER?
The Jaina teaching is that matter flows on or into the soul through the agency of bodily desires and appetites. If the soul were to eradicate all its desires and appetites and cravings it will be speedily rid of matter, as has been repeatedly demonstrated in the case of those who have attained Nirvana. But all kinds of bodily desires have to be given up; partial eradication of the enemy will be useful as leading to a reincarnation in one of the heavens; but Nirvana cannot be attained without a complete elimination of every thought and longing that is not centered in the soul itself but in the other-than-itself. Desires intensified assume the form and proportions of passionsanger, pride, deceit and to replace these internal agitations with tranquillity and greed—which are of different degrees of intensity, and prey upon the divine soul as if they were so many demons, setting up a kind of fever internally. All desires and appetites are really only so many different kinds of agitations from which the soul is suffering: the aim is to replace these internal agitations with tranquillity and peace, so that the inherent joy of the substance of the soul may manifest itself in its ever-exhilarating fulness.
The work to be done consists in the acquisition of the Right Faith which is necessary to sustain Right Effort. Right Knowledge is then to be enlisted to supplement the action of Faith; and Right Conduct should be induced as arduously as possible. It is a case of
122

Page #135

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
123
rigorous self-discipline, severe enough in its ultimate stages to destroy even such natural appetites as hunger, thirst, the longing for bodily comfort and ease, and even sleep. But the commencement is not so frightening. Right Faith itself has a wonderful effect on the mind; it works against lethargy and laziness from within, destroying their roots in an amazingly short time. When the individual eagerly longs for further progress and is inclined to face affliction (suffering), then is the time to encourage him on to the advanced path. This is the hallmark of true practicability. The Jaina conquers pride with humility, anger with forgiveness, deceit with straightforwardness, greed with selfdenial, sex-passion with abstinence (at first qualified by matrimony, then complete), slothfulness and cruelty by universal love and mercy. When all the worldly desíres are gone, the soul is rid of the internal agitations, and matter is eliminated. Partial eradication of passions and appetites will not do, for subdued agitations will still be attracting and absorbing fresh 'matter.
The Christian views on the subject are described below:
1.- (Desires are described as demons allegorically):
“... (for the serpent allegorically signifies pleasure crawling on its belly, earthly wickedness nourished for fuel to the flames), ..."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 100.
“And he taught them thus : My brethren, sons of my father,for you are of my family as to Christ, substance of my city, the Jerusalem above, the delight of my dwelling place—why have you been taken captive by your enemy the serpent, twisted, crooked and perverse, to whom God has given neither hands nor feet? And crooked is his going, since he is the son of the wicked one; for his father is death,' and his mother corruption, and ruin is in his body.

Page #136

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
124
Do not go in then into his destruction; for you are in bondage by the unbelief and deception of his son, who is without order, and has no substance; formless, and has no form in the whole creation, either in the heaven or in the earth,' or among the fishes that are in the waters. But if you see him, flee from him, since he has no resemblance to men: his dwelling is the abyss, and he walks in darkness. Flee, then, from him, that his venom may not be poured out upon you if his venom be poured out upon your body, you walk in his wickedness. But remain rather in the true worship, being faithful, reverent, and good, without guile. Flee from Satan the dragon, and remove from you his wicked seed, namely, desire, by which he gets disease in the soul, which 18 the venom of the serpent. For desire is of the serpent from the beginning, and she it is who arms her. self against the faithful; for she came forth out of the darkness, and returns to the darkness. You ought therefore, after coming to us, or rather through us to God, to throw out the venom of the devil from your bodies."-(Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, etc.) A.N.C.L. vol. xvi. p. 326.
"After that there is no pain, there is no grief, there is no groaning there are no tears, ... there is no devil, there is no death, .;. "Ibid. p. 502.
1
2. (The demons cannot attack one unless invited):
"And He gave over the government of those who should turn to evil to those angels who,... not by their substance, but by opposition, were, unwilling to remain with God, being corrupted by the vice of envy and pride. And this is the bound assigned, that unless one first do the will of the demons, the demons have no power over him."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. p. 895.
"But you ought to know that the demons have no power over any one, unless first he be their table companion; since not even their chief can do any thing contrary to the law imposed upon him by God, wherefore he has no power over any one who does not worship him; but neither can any one receive from them any of the things that he wishes, nor in anything be hurt by them, "... (Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 146.
The heading of the chapter in which the above
...

Page #137

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
125
passage from Clementine Homilies occurs is: “ Willing Captives."
" For the demons having power by means of the food given to them, are admitted into your bodies by your own hands; and lying hid there for long time, they become blended with your souls. And through the carelessness of those who think not, or even wish to help themselves, upon the dissolution of their bodies, their souls being united to the demon are of necessity borne by it into whatever places it pleases."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 162.
The significance of the above is only this that the matter absorbed by the soul gives rise, in the natural way, to powerful forces, known as karma-prakritis (karmic forces) in the Jaina Literature, which determine its future reincarnation amidst suitable surround
ings.
3. (Desires are curbed and controlled by Faith and Knowledge and the Fear of Consequences) :
"But some one will say, And what shall we do now, to whom it has already happened to be smeared with sing as with pitch? I answer: Nothing; but hasten to be washed, that the fuel of fire mey be cleansed out of you by the invocation of the holy name, and that for the future you may bridle your lusts by the fear of the judgment to come, and with all constancy beat back the hostile powers whenever they approach your senses."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. pp. 407-408.
"There is therefore & measure of faith, which, if it be per. fect, drives the demon perfectly from the soul; but if it has any defect, something on the part of the demon still remains in the portion of infidelity; and it is the greatest difficulty for the soul to understand when or how, whether fully or less fully, the demon h&s been expelled from it. For if he remains in any quarter, when he gets an opportunity, he suggests thoughts to men's hearts; and they, not knowing whence they come, believe the suggestions of the demons, as if they were the perceptions of their own souls."-Ibid. p. 292.

Page #138

126
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"But if, while in this life, they had placed before their eyes the punishments which they shall then suffer, they would certainly have bridled their lusts, and would in no wise have fallen into sin. For the understanding in the soul has much power for cutting off all its desires, especially when it has acquired the knowledge of heavenly things, by means of which, having received the light of truth, it will turn away from all darkness of evil actions. For as the sun obscures and conceals all the stars by the brightness of his shining, so also the mind, by the light of knowledge, renders all the lusts of the soul ineffective and inactive, sending out upon them the thought of the judgment to come as its rays, so that they can no longer appear in the soul."--Ibid. p. 410.
"For while the physician's art,' . .. beals the diseases of the body; wisdom frees, the soul from passions."--(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 115.
"The fear of God, who is impassable, is free of perturbation. For it is not God that one dreads, but the falling away from God. He who dreads this, dreads falling into evil, and dreads what is evil. And he that fears & fall wishes himself to be immortal and passionless."-(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 177.
""Be it according to thy faith.'-(Matt. ix. 29.) And where faith is. there is the promise; and the consummation of the promise is rest. So that in illumination what we receive is knowledge, and the end of knowledge is rest—the last thing conceived as the object of aspiration. As, then, inexperience comes to an end by experience, and perplexity by finding & clear outlet, BO by illumination must darkness disappear. The darkness is ignorance, through which we fall into sins, parblind as to the truth."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. 'p. 184.
"For our mind, whenever it is impressed delightfully with the image of a beloved one, always seeing the form as in a mirror, is tormented by the recollection; and if it do not obtain ats desire, it contrives ways of obtaining it; but if it do obtain it, it is rather increased, like fire having a supply of wood, and especially when there is no fear impressed upon the soul of the lover before the rise of passion. For as water extinguishes fire, so fear is the extinguisher of unreasonable desire."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 113.

Page #139

HOW TO BE RD OF MATTER
127
“But the reason why the demons delight in entering into men's bodies 18 this. Being spirits, and having desires after meats and drinks, and sexual pleasures, but not being able to partake of these by reason of their being spirits, and wanting organs fitted for their enjoyment, they enter into the bodies of men, in order that, getting organs to minister to them, they may obtain the things that they wish, whether it be meat, by means of men's teeth, or sexual pleasure, by means of men's members. Hence, in order to the putting of demons to flight, the most useful help is abstinence, and fasting, and suffering of affliction. For if they enter into men's bodies for the sake of sharing (pleasures), it is manifest that they are put to flight by suffering. But inasmuch as some, being of & more malig. nant kind, remain by the body that is undergoing punishment, though they are punished with it, therefore it is needful to have recourse to God by prayers and petitions, refraining from every occasion of impurity, that the hand of God may touch him for his cure, as being pure and faithful."-Ibid. p. 158.
" For all things are done to the believer, nothing to the un. believer. Therefore the demons themselves, knowing the amount of faith of those of whom they take possession, measure their stay proportionately. Wherefore they stay permanently with the an. believing, tarry for a while with the weak in faith; but with those who thoroughly believe and who do good, they cannot remain even for a moment. For the soul being turned by faith, as it were, into the nature of water, quenches the demon as & spårk of fire. The labonr, therefore, of every one is to be solicitons about the putting to fight of his own demon. For, being mixed up with men's souls, they suggest to every one's mind desires after what things they please, in order that he may neglect his salvation." -Ibid. p. 153.
"But still, though all demong, with all diseases, flee before you. you are not to rejoice in this only, but in that, through grace, your names, as of the ever-living, are written in heaven. Thas also the Divine Holy Spirit rejoices, because man hath overcome death; for the putting of the demons to fight makes for the safety of another." Ibid. p. 159.
It was recognised that the punishment' of the soul was a natural result of sin.

Page #140

128
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
“ As are men's wishes, so are their words;
As are their words, so are their deeds;
And as their works, such is their life." (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 110.
"... For if anyone should take a deadly drug in ignorance, does he not die? So naturally sins destroy the sinner, though he commit them in ignorance of what is right."-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 266.
"... as by impiety they [men] have been made liable to suffer, so by piety they may be made free from suffering; and not only free from suffering, but by even a little faith in God be able to cure the sufferings of others."-(Recogations of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 304.
“But the ways in which this garment may be spotted are these : If any one withdraw from God the Father and Creator of all, receiving another teacher besides Christ, who alone is the faithful and true Prophet ... if anyone think otherwise than worthily of the substance of the Godhead, which excels all things ;-these are the things which even fatally pollute the garment of baptism. But the things which pollute it in actions are these : murders, adulteries, hatreda, avarice, evil ambition. And the things which pollu once the soul and the body are these : to partake of the table of demons, that is, to taste things sacrificed, or blood, or & carcase which 18 strangled, and if there be aught else which has been offered to demons."-A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 802.
4. (The internal agitations of the soul):
"For wherever, as the philosophers hold, there 18 any agitation, there of necessity passion must exist. Where passion is situated, it is reasonable that mental excitement follow. Where there is mental excitement, there grief and sorrow exist. Where grief and SOTOW exist, there is already room for weakening and decay; and if these two barass them, extinction is at hand, viz., death, which ends all things, and takes away life from every sentient being."-(Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 16. .. " For ... we think that they (if only they are true gods...] should be free . . ., from all agitating and disturbing passions; should not burn with anger ..."-Ibid. p. 272.

Page #141

HOW TO BE RD OF MATTER
129
"I think, then, that under the general designation of lust, pleasures are included ; in like manner, under the general idea of pleasures, you have as a specific class 'shows' .. For the show always leads to spiritual agitation, wherever there is pleasure, there 18 keenness of feeling, there is rivalry giving in turn its zest to that. Then, too, where yop bave rivalry, you have rage, and bitterness, and wrath, and grief, and all bad things which flow from then-the whole en. tirely out of keeping with the religion of Christ. For even suppose one should enjoy the shows in a moderate way, as befits his rank or age or nature, still he is not undisturbed in mind, without some unuttered movings of the inner man. No one partakes of pleasures such as these without their strong excitements ; no one comes under their excitements without their natural lapses. These lapses, again, create passionate desire. But if there is no desire, there is no pleasure, and he is chargeable with trifling who goes there where nothing 18 gotten ... Since then, all passionate excitement is forbidden us, we are debarred from every kind of spectacle, and especially from the circus, where such excitement presides as in its proper element ... Whatever they (the partakers of spectators] desire on the one hand, or detest on the other, 18 entirely foreign to themselves."--(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. pp. 22-24.
“For whatever is harassed by any kind of disturbance, is, it is clear, capable of suffering, and frail; that which has been sub. jected to suffering and frailty must be mortal; but anger harasses and destroys those who are subject to it: therefore that should be called mortal which has been made subject to the emotions of anger. But yet we know that the gods should be never-dying, and should possess an immortal nature; and if this is clear and certain, anger has been separated far from them and from their state. On no ground, then, is it fitting to wish to appease that in the gods above which you see cannot suit their blessed state."—(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 312.
5. (The Merit of Faith):
“... Yet he himself, rejoicing in the riches of wisdom which he hath found, desires insatiably to enjoy them, and is delighted with the practice of good works, hastening to attain, with a clean heart and & pure conscience, the world to come, when he shall be able
F.9

Page #142

130
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
to see God, the King of all."-(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ni. P. 307.
“But ye are not able to endure the austerity of salvation; ... And be pot afraid lest the multitude of pleasing objects which rise before you withdraw you from wisdom. You yourself will spontaneously surmount the frivolousness of custom, as boys when they have become men throw aside their toys."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 98.
"The kingdom of beaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."-Matt. xiii. 31-32.
"... the kingdom of God... is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Luke siji. 20-21.
i “Practice husbandry, we say, if you are a husbandmen; but while you till your fields, know God."--(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 92.
It must, however, be distinctly understood that by itself faith is not enough to save the soul.
" For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the worla tbrough the knowledge of tbe Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning."_Peter ii. 20.
6. (Passions to be completely destroyed): . " For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye throngb the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."--Romans' vii. 18.
"But to be carnally minded is death."--Romans viii. 6.
"But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." 1 Timothy v. 6.
"For the filesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to another: Bo that ye. cannot do the things that ye would."-Galatians v. 17.
"... for he that had suffered in the flesh bath ceased from sin."-1 Peter iv. 1.

Page #143

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
131
"... For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but be that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."--Galatians vi. 8.
" Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."Col. iii. 5.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat, because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth into life, and few there be that find it."-Matt. VI. 13-14.
"Woe onto you that are fulll for ye shall hunger."-Luke vi. 25.
"Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled."Luke vi. 21.
"... if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."-Matt. xvi. 24.
" If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."-Irake xiv. 26.
" The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not whereto lay his head."—Matt. riii. 20.
“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."-2 Cor. xi. 27.
"... there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.”—Matt. xis. 12.
"... it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."Matt. xix. 24.
"But God is impassible, free of anger, destitute of desire."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 210.
"We must therefore rescue the Gnostic and perfect man fron all passions of the soul. For Knowledge produces practice and proc. tice habit or disposition; and such a state as this produces impassibi. lity, not moderation of passion. And the complete eradication of desire reaps as its fruits impassibility. But the Gnostic does not share ... in those affections that are commonly celebrated as good, that is the good things of the affection that are alike to the pas. sions; ..."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 346.

Page #144

132
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"... the true athlete-he who in the great stadium, the fair world, is crowned for true victory over all the passions ... Angels and Gods are spectators; and the contest, embracing all the varied exercises, is, 'not against flesh and blood,' but against the spiritual powers of inordinate passions that work through the flesh. He who obtains the mastery in these struggles and overthrows the tempter, menacing as it were, with certain contests vins immortality. The spectators are summoned to the contest, the athletes contend in the stadium; the one who bas obeyed the directions of the trainer wins the day."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. pp. 419.420.
“... the good man ... is without passion, having through the habit or disposition of bis soul endued with virtue transcended the whole life of passion. He has every thing dependent on himself for the attainment of the end." Ibid. p. 453.
"But self-control ... perfected through knowledge abiding ever, makes a man Lord and Master of himself; so that the Gnostic 18 temperate and passionless, incapable of being dissolved by pleasures and pains, as they say adamant 28 by fire."-A.N.C.L. vol. x1, p. 455.
"For he who has not formed the wish to extirpate the passion of the soul kills himself."--Ibid. p. 458.
"Since, indeed, as land neglected by the cultivator necessarily produces thorns and thistles, 80 your senge, by long neglect, bas produced a plentiful crop of noxious opinions of things and dogmas of false science, there is need now of much care in cultivating the field of your mind, that the word of truth, which 18 the true and diligent lusbandman of the heart, may cultivate it with continual instructions. It 18 therefore your part to render obedience to it, and to lop off superfluous occupations and anxieties, lest & noxious growth choke the good seed of the word. For it may be that a short and earnest diligence may repair a long time's neglect; for the time of every one's life is uncertain, and therefore we must hasten to salvation, lest haply sudden death seize upon hima who delaye."(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. 1. p. 328.
"And all the more eagerly must we strive on this account, that while there is time, the collected vices of evil custom may be cut off. And this you shall not be able to do otherwise, than by being angry with yourselves on account of your profitless and base doingo."(Recogartions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 328.

Page #145

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
133
"It is not the outward act which others have done, but something else indicated by it, greater, more godlike, more perfect, the stripping off of the passions from the soul itself and from the disposi. tion, and the cutting up by the roots and casting out of what is alien to the mind. For this is the lesson peculiar to the believer, and the instruction worthy of the Saviour."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xxii. p. 194.
“For salvation is the privilege of pure and passionless souls ... Nor does the kingdom of heaven belong to sleepers and sluggards,
but the violent take it by force' (Matt. xi. 12). For this alone 18 commendable violence, to force God, and take life from God by. force. And He, knowing those who persevere firmly, or rather violently, yields and grants. For God delights in being vanquished in such things."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xxii. pp. 200-201.
7. (All things are to be given up including clothes and everything foreign to the soul's own nature):
"'Will you be so good as to explain this matter also?' I re. member Clement saying to me, that we suffer injuries and tions for the forgiveness of our sins.' Peter said : This is quite correct. For we, who have chosen the future things, in so far as we possess more goods than these, whether they be clothing, or food or drink, or any other thing, po88888 sins, because we ought not to have anything, as I explained to you a little ago. To all of us posBessions are sine ... The deprivation of these, in whatever way it may take place, is the removal of sins,'"-(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 240.
8. (The Rugged Path):
"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh, they may open unto him immediately."-Luke xii. 35-36.
"In this one thing alone can we be happy in this life, if we appear to be unhappy; if, avoiding the enticements of pleasure, and giving ourselves to service of virtue only, we live in all labours and miseries, which are the means of exercising and strengthening virtue; if, in short, we keep to that rugged and difficult path which has
eling and strengthening virtual

Page #146

134
JAINISAL, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
been opened for us to happiness. The chief good therefore which makes mer happy cannot exist, unless it be in that religion and doctrine to which is annexed the hope of immortality."-(Lactantius) A.N.C.L. vol. xxi. p. 165.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."-Romans viii. 18.
“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth."-Luke iii. 5.
“Blessed are ye that hunger now : for ye shall be filled. Blessed are re that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” Luke vi. 21.
"It is not the outward act which others have done, but something else indicated by it, greater, more godlike, more perfect, the stripping off of the passions from the soul itself and from the dis. position, and the cutting up by the roots and casting out of what is alien to the mind. For this is the lesson peculiar to the believer, and the instruction Torthy of the Saviour."-(Lactantius) A.N.C.L. vol. xxii. p. 194.
“Nor does the kingdom of heaven belong to sleepers and slag. gards, but the violent take it by force' (Matt. xi. 12)... For this alone is commendable violence, to force God, and take life from God by force ..."-Ibid. pp. 200-201.
“And so far, he says, no one any longer lives after the flesh.
hat is bot life, but death. For Christ also, that He might show this, ceased to live after the flesh. How? Not by putting off the body! Far be it1 ... But by divesting Himself of physical affections, such as hunger, and thirst, and sleep and weariness. For not He has a body incapable of suffering and of injury."(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol, sxiv. pp. 178-179. .
"It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."- Luke iv. 4.
“The sole key to unlock Paradise is your own life's blood." A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 531.
9. (The Cross):
The cross signifies complete detachment from the body, that is to say, the mortifying of not the physical

Page #147

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
136 body, but of the fleshly lusts, desires and appetites altogether.
"... bound to the wood of the cross, thou shalt be freed from destruction ..."- (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 106.
"... If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it : and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."-Matt. xvi. 24-25.
“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : lest that by any means ... I myself should be a castaway."-1 Cor. ix. 27.
"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh' with the affections and lusts."-Gal. v. 24.
"And to bear the sign of the cross is to bear about death, by taking farewell of all things wbilst still in the flesh alive."--A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 464.
" If you wish to be the Lord's disciple it is necessary you take your cross, and follow the Lord' [your cross], that is, your own straights and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross." (Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 158.
10. (Fire):
What is known as "Intelligent Fire' in mystic circles means the fire of renunciation which will burn up the cravings of the senses, and the roots of desire.
"The philosophers are familiar as well as we with the distinction between a common and a secret fire."--Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. XI. p. 186.
"... he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."--Matt. iii. 11.
“Every man's work shall be made manifest : fer the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."-I Cor. ii. 13.
"... For this 18 righteous and necessary anger, by which every one is indignant with bimself, and accuses himself for those things in which he has erred and done amiss; and by this indigna. tion a certain fire is kindled in us, which, applied as it were to &
OID

Page #148

136
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
barren field, consumes and burns up the roots of vile pleasure, and renders the soil of the heart more fertile for the good seed of the word of God."- (Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 328.
11. (Universal love):
"Love is the keeping of commandments which leads to know. ledge, and the keeping of them is the establishment of commandments from which immortality results."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 375.
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."-John xiv. 15.
Universal love signifies loving every one of the living beings, not only one's relations and friends, and human beings, but all living beings, and its manifestations take the form of Ahimsă, that is to say, the protecting of the lives of all living beings and the avoiding of causing hurt to any one; for we protect the lives of those whom we really love.
"... and the latter (knowledge) terminating in love, thereafter gives the loving to the loved."-A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 448.
The class of the loved embraces every living being, and the mode in which you can give the loving to the loved’ is to see that you neither hurt nor destroy any one, if your love is not to die merely on your lips. The Jaina saint, therefore, carries with him a whisk of soft peacock feathers with which to brush aside any living being, insects, etc., that may be in danger of being killed or crushed by his movements.
"If you knew what that meaneth, I will bave mercy and not sacrifice."--Matt. xii. 7.
“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will bave mercy, and not sacrifice. ..."—Matt. ix. 13.
The explanation, of course, would not be intelligible

Page #149

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
137
to the man in the street' and therefore was not attempted,
“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Loke vi. 36.
The truly enlightened leaders amongst the early Christians refrained from eating animal flesh on the ground of mercy, and those that ate despised themselves for doing so.
“But the things which pollute it (the garment of baptism] in actions are these : murders, adulteries, hatreds,... And the things which pollute at once the soul and the body are these : to... taste things sacrificed, or blood, or a carcass which is strangled ..."(Clementine Homilies) A.N.C.L. vol. ui. p. 302.
“ Lastly, what pleasure is it to take delight in the slaughter of barmless creatures, and to have the ears ringing often with their piteous bellowings, to see rivers of blood, the life fleeing away with the blood ... the heart still bounding with the life left in it, and the trembling palpitating veins in the viscera. We half savage men, nay rather, ... we savages, whom unhappy necessity and bad habit bave trained to take these as food, are sometimes moved with pity for them; we ourselves accuse and condemn ourselves when the thing is seen and looked into thoroughly, because neglecting the law that 18 binding on men, we have broken through the bonds which naturally united us at the beginning ..."-(Amobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 310.
That which is objectionable as a sacrifice to one's god and is condemned on the ground of mercy, cannot surely be tolerated from a worse, that is, a selfish motive. Whichever way one may look at it, the practice of eating the flesh of living beings is wholly to be condemned.
12. (Prayer and Fasting):
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the 'Spirit itself

Page #150

138
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."-Rom. viii. 26.
"... And therefore both young and old ought to be very earnest about their repentance,... and to pray to God always heartily, and to ask of Him those things which ought to be asked of God; ... in some measure also, if possible, by deeds of mercy towards the poor, to help their penitence ..." Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. ii. p. 453.
"Not merely from anger, but altogether from all perturbations of the mind, onght the exercise of prayer to be free, uttered from & spirit such as is the Spirit unto whom it is sent. For a defiled Spirit cannot be acknowledged by a boly Spirit, nor a sad by a joyful, nor a fettered by a free. No one grants reception to his adversary : no one grants admittance except to his compeer."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 188.
“The Saviour showed to the beleving apostles prayer to be stronger than faith in the case of a demoniac, whom they could not cleanse, when He said, "Such things are accomplished by prayer.' He who has believed has attained forgiveness of sins from the Lord; but he who has attained knowledge, inasmuch as he no longer sins, obtains from himself the forgiveness of the rest."A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 121.
Prayer and thanksgiving are really to be addressed to the divinity of one's own self, for all the good things one enjoys are due to its being and presence. Prayer was one of those observances which were kept secret from the new-comers and from those who were not fully enlightened in the early Christian Church.
“Fasting was instituted for the humiliation of the body." 'Penitential Discipline in the Early Church,' p. 158.
"For the people, after crossing the sea, and being carried abont in the desert during forty years, although they were there nourished with divine supplies, nevertheless were more mindful of their belly and of their gullet than of God. Thereupon the Lord, driven apart into desert places after baptism, showed, by maintaining & fast of forty days, that the man of God lives not by bread alone,' but by the word

Page #151

139
of God; and that temptations incident to fullness or immoderation of appetite are shattered by abstinence."-A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 256.
"Now you have received your mouth, O man, for the purpose of devouring your food and imbibing your drink: why not, however, for the higher purpose of uttering speech, so as to distinguish yourself from all other animals? Why not rather for preaching (the gospel of) God, that so you may become even His priest and advocate before men?"-(Teltullianus) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 328.
14
Especially does fasting empty the soul of matter and make it, along with the body, pure and light for the divine words."A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 121.
HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
"The vivid remembrance of death is a check on diet and when the diet is lessened the passions are diminished along with it."A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 166.
#4
Repentance, then, becomes capable of wiping out every sin -A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 164.
17
Some of the precepts would appear at first sight to be rather severe, but it is to be borne in mind that the complete separation of spirit from matter cannot be brought about by lolling in an armchair. To tone down this severity the path in Jainism has been divided into a preliminary one and one that is more advanced. In Christianity, the distinction between the higher and the lower paths could not be observed always in teaching, because of the opposition of the hostile masses. In Jainism, the teaching was completely given. The householder is allowed to marry, for instance; but the saint must observe absolute celibacy. In Christianity both. injunctions are given out, but without pointing out the distinction' of paths to which each of them appertains.
66
and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake."-Matt. xix. 12.
66
For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Where

Page #152

140
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
fore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."-Matt. xix. 5-6.
Similar difficulties arise with respect to dispossessing oneself completely of all wealth, as enjoined in the Bible.
"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me."-Matt. xix, 21.
This cannot be done ordinarily: witness the failure of Ananias and Sapphira to dispossess themselves of their wealth.
-
The layman cannot also afford to give away his overcoat to every one who lays a claim to his coat, nor turn the other cheek every time that he is hit on one side of his face. These injunctions are really meant for the saints on the higher path, and for only the most advanced of the men in the householder's stage. But we know that it was distinctly said in the Bible, as an explanation of all these shortcomings,
"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? "John ii. 12.
The proper rule of observance for the novice has already been stated in one of the quotations, and it is this: One should acquire the right faith and then adopt as much of disciplinary conduct as he can. If the faith has enlivened him from within and is working in his heart, very very soon he would himself long to adopt more and more of the purifying discipline, and would soon gird up his loins to face suffering.' The one golden rule of conduct is this: Avoid both shirking and overstraining.
The soul being immortal, the amount of good work
C

Page #153

HOW TO BE RID OF MATTER
141
that has been put in is not lost in death but is carried, in the form of modifications of character and disposition, from life to life, till the ends of the world' be come unto it.
The relation between desire and matter has to be understood in the light of the fact that even eatables, e.g., a bit of chocolate, placed in the mouth remain unnoticed if attention be engrossed wholly in some other direction. Attention makes all the difference in this regard; when we attend to the thing in the mouth, we become aware of and enjoy its relish; when the attention is engaged elsewhere absorbingly we are ignorant of its existence, as in the latter case a new state of consciousness has not been evoked in the soul, which is consequently ignorant of what is in the mouth. And the reason why a new state of consciousness corresponding to the taste of chocolate in the assumed illustration has not risen must lie in the fact that no stimulus has actually passed the portals of attention. It is clear, then, that matter, by itself cannot influence the soul even when its contact is the closest with it. The soul can, then, only be influenced when it attends to matter. Attention signifies interest that is intimately associated with some kind of desire; therefore, it is through desire that matter is drawn by the soul to itself. If there were no desires in the soul, the absorption of matter will be ended. Through the doorways of the five senses streams of matter are constantly pouring in which the soul is absorbing continuously through the agency of its desiring nature.
Desires are really nothing other than the agitated states of the soul. They can be observed best when they are of the intensest type, and when the inner agitations

Page #154

142
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
are overpowering and may drag the individual even into crime. Desires are not destroyed one by one, but they can be controlled one by one. The man who gives up tobacco, for instance, only subdues his craving for it; he does not root out the element of desire in that respect altogether. Even when a strong disgust for tobacco characterizes the mind, the craving is only subdued, although more effectively. The reason is this, that the psychic life being unitary and indivisible, it is not cut up into separate currents to maintain our diverse desires. The internal agitations are non-composite and will only disappear once for all and for ever. Body-consciousness is the root of ignorance and internal agitations, and all our desires spring from it. So long as this body-consciousness remains in the faintest degree and is not replaced, wholly and entirely, by the soul-consciousness, desires cannot be uprooted, though they may be controlled. In so far as will is associated with different objects of desire, it only attends to them one after another, and not by dividing itself into so many separate branches. It is for this reason that religion enjoins the complete renunciation of all things, including clothes. Like the demon in the Arabian Nights' Tales who springs out of the last remaining pip in the pomegranate, desires, if they have a single object of the world left to support them, will refuse to die and will spring up over and over again. From the foregoing it is clear that it is as sinful to entertain an evil intention as to execute an evil program. Both in Jainism and Christianity evil intention itself is. condemned, because that is the very form of desire, through which the inflow of matter is continued into the soul.

Page #155

CHAPTER 20
DEIFICATION IS THE RESULT OF
RIGHT ACTION
According to Jainism Right Conduct, when perfected, crowns the Soul with Divinity. The Christian view as to this is to be gathered from the following passages :
“Knowledge is . . . followed by practical wisdom, and practical wisdom by self-control; for it may be said that practical wisdom is divine knowledge, and exists in those who are deified."—(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 378.
"On this wise it is possible for the Gnostic* already to have become God. 'I said, Ye are Gods, and sons of the Highest.' And Empedocles says that the souls of the wise become Gods."-Ibid. p. 209.
“And David expressly (or rather the Lord in the person of the saint and the same from the foundation of the world in each one who at different periods is saved, and shall be saved by faith) says . . . "-Ibid. p. 332.
"... and man, when deified purely into a passionless state, becomes a unit."--Ibid. p. 210.
"... the word of God became man, that thou mayest learn from man bow man may become God."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 24.
“... that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."Ephesians iii. 19.
"I have said, Ye are Gods."--Ps. lxxxii. 6.
Iruthibe limout there to the first-28TL 143
* It may be pointed out that there seem to have been two types of Gnostics; the one referred to here were those who knew the Truth scentifically; the other tried to introduce further mysticism on the lines of Kabalistic thought. To the former class belonged Clement; but the latter was condemned as a heresy. This explains why Clement refers to the Gnostics approvingly in some of his writings. The reference is to the first-named type.

Page #156

144
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"... he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken ..." John X. 95.
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death ..."-1 Cor. sy. 26.
“So when ... this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallow.ed up in victory."-1 Cor. xv. 54.
“Neither can they die any more : for they are ... the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."-Luke xx. 36.
" Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."John viii. 34-36.
"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death."-Rev. i. 18.
“... there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed away." —Rer. xxi, 4.
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things ..."-Revela. tion xxi. 7.
"And to be incorruptible is to partake in divinity."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 239.
“In the soul the pain 18 gone, but the good remains; and the sweet is left, but the base wiped away. For these are two qualities characteristic of each soul, by which is known that which is glorified, and that which is condemned."--(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 364.
“... restoration to the everlasting contemplation and they are called by the appellation of Gods."-Ibid. p. 447.
"... capable of reaching his own mansions."-Ibid. p. 367.
"Koowledge is therefore quick in purifying ... Thence also with ease it removes the soul to what is akin to the soul, divine and holy, and by its own light conveys man through the mystic stages of advancement, till it restores the pure in heart to the crowning place of rest."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 447. *
" Accordingly after the highest excellence in flesh, changing alvays duly to the better, he urges his flight to the, ancestral hall, through the holy septenniad to the Lord's Own mansions; to be a

Page #157

DEIFICATION IS RESULT OF RIGHT ACTION
145
light, steady, and continuing eternally, entirely and in every part immutable ..."-Ibid. p. 448.
"For having become wholly spiritual, and having in the spiritual church gone to what is of kindred nature, it abides in the rest of God."--Ibid. p. 455.
• " Knowing that. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."-Romans vi. 9.
"... in which there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption, nor care, nor night, nor day measured by time . .. eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."-(Hippolytus) A.N.C.L. vol. ix. pp. 2 & 50.
“For the incorruptable nature is not the subject of generation; it grows not, sleeps not, hungers not, thirsts not, is not wearied, suffereth not, dies not, 18 not pierced by nails and spears, sweats not, drops not with blood. Of such kind are the natures of the angels and of souls released from the body. For these are of an. other kind, and different from these creatures of our world, which are visible and perishing."-Ibid. p. 88.
"... No longer having the qualities of fleshly weakness and ... pollutions."-Orgen's Philocalia, pp. 112-113.
The Jaina view is that those who have entered Nirvana are the most excellent of living beings and are termed Gods. There is nothing superior to them in the world of life; they are rid of all pain and misery. implied in embodied existence. They live at the topmost part of the Universe in perfect tranquillity and peace, endowed with omniscience and a bliss that knows no deterioration or decay.
"If eternal salvation were to be sold, for how much, o men, would you propose to purchase it? Were one to estimate the value of the whole of Pactolus, the fabulous river of gold, he would not have reckoned up a price equivalent to salvation. Do not, however, faint. You may, if you choose, purchase salvation, though of inestimable value, with your own resources, love and living faith, which will be teckoned & suitable price."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 82.
F. 10

Page #158

ETERNITY OF THE STATE OF LIBERATION
fall'
The Jaina view is that there is never any from the condition of Liberation. When once the soul reaches Nirvana, it is secure for ever. And the reason for this is; that matter cannot enter into its constitution any longer, because it is completely rid of all desires through which matter could enter.
The Christian view is the same as the Jaina view, as will appear from the following quotations:
... and they shall reign for ever and ever!"-Revelation xxii. 5.
"And the servant' abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever."-John vii. 35.
"
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie Rev. xxi. 27.
44
CHAPTER 21
44
ading
".. his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroy. ed."-Daniel vii. 14.
For it is impossible that he who has once been made perfect by love, and feasts eternally and insatiably on the boundless joy of contemplation, should delight in small and grovelling things. For what rational cause remains any more to the man who has gained the light inaccessible' for reverting to the good things of the world." (Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. pp. 346-347.
146

Page #159

NOT ALL SHALL BE SAVED
The Jaina view is that there are two kinds of souls; those that shall obtain Nirvana one day or another, and those who shall never attain it. So far as their natures are concerned they are alike, but the difference lies in the degree of malignity of karmas. Where the karmaengendered forces operating on the soul are of the most malignant type, the soul is rendered fanatically hostile to the teaching of Truth, and delights in persecuting those who follow the right faith, with the result that its fanaticism becomes more and more intensified in every human incarnation. As salvation cannot be had unless the right faith be adopted by the soul, he who is opposed to it with all his might and main can never possibly expect to attain it. It is not that an external force will deprive him of the privilege, but his own actions debar him from the great attainment.
The Christian views may be gathered from the following:
CHAPTER 22
"
·
many be called but few chosen."-Matt. xx. 16.
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."-Matt. vii. 13-14.
...
"Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved."-Romans ix. 27.
44
there is a remnant according to the élection of grace."Romans xi. 5.
147

Page #160

148
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"... for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."Luke xiii, 24.
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."-1 Cor. i. 18.
"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life."2 Cor. ü. 16.

Page #161

CHAPTER 23
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCES
Subjoined are a few other correspondences between Jainism and Christianity: (1) Confession is held in common in both.
"Peter mourned and wept, because, ag men will, he erred. I find not what he said : I find that he wept. I read of his tears, I read not of his explanation; but what cannot be defended can be washed away. Let tears wash away the sin which one is ashamed to confess with the voice . . . Tears express the fault without dread : tears confess the sin without injuring modesty."-Penetential Discipline in the Early Church, p. 101. (2) Salvation is only for man.
" And after these things He also placed man at the head of the world, and man, too, made in the image of God, to whom he imparted mind, and reason, and foresight, that he might imitate God; And when he had given him all things for his service, He willed that he alone should be free." (Cyprian) A.N.C.L. vol. xiii, p. 299.
“For although there is assigned to angels also perdition in the fire prepared for the devil, and his angels,' (Matt. xxv. 41), yet & restoration is never promised to them. No charge about the salvation of angels did Christ ever receive from the Father, and that which the Father neither promised nor commanded, Christ could not have undertaken."-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xv. pp. 193-194. (3) Woman's inequality to man.
"She has the burden of her own inferiority to bear."--Tertu. llian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. p. 368.
149

Page #162

150
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
“For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmach as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of man."-1 Cor. xi, 7.
In some respects women are equal to men; in some, they are not; they have besides their own special privi. leges and functions. Generally, the woman is more sentimental,* emotional and modest; man is more steadfast and less sentimental. In matters demanding the extreme degree of coolness and self-control, women are more liable to be underved than men. It will be interesting to know that Philo Judæus, the great expounder of Jewish mysteries, also insisted on the inferiority in rank of the woman. He wrote:
"... for as the male always has the precedence, the female falls short, and is inferior in rank."-(Yonge's Philo Judæus, vol. ii. p. 204.) • But it is not the teaching of religion that a woman shall never obtain salvation, but only this that she will have to be reborn first as a man. When we remember that there are differences and inequalities among men themselves we shall cease to wonder at those between woman and man. The men of the days long gone by could attain Nirvana, those born during the last two and a half millennia and those who will be born on our earth during the remainder of the duration of the current cycle and the early part of the next one shall not be able to do so. (4) There is no happiness for embodied life.
"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Romans vii. 22.
* For instance, women are endowed with a greater capacity for pity than men.

Page #163

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCES
151
The thoughtful mind only discovers the world to be full of misery and pain in all conditions. No one thinks of associating happiness with the conditions of existence in the lower grades of life. The trees are rooted to the spot and remain perpetually exposed to the inclemency of seasons; they are further subjected to all kinds of afflictions in the shape of cutting, piercing, burning, uprooting and the like. The smaller insects are destroyed by the thousand by the careless movements of their bigger fellow-beings. No one cares for their writhings and suffering. The birds and beasts and fishes are seized and devoured mercilessly by animals and men. Man himself is a constant prey to the fear of death, and lives in perpetual dread of calamity and misfortune. Those even who may be regarded as favourites of fortune are troubled with many kinds of mental and bodily troubles of their own and of their relations and friends. And at the end of a career, even where it has been the least undesirable, there is nothing more comforting than the grave or the burning pyre to look forward to. Death and the blankness of death ever stare the thinking being in the face. Human life is short and the best of its conditions is ephemeral and fleeting; you have hardly celebrated the advent of a joy when its place is taken by affliction in some form or other. Those who are unlucky spend their whole time in crying and lamentations. Their suffering ceases even to excite the pity of the passers-by by its frequency. Some of them actually experience all the excruciating horrors of bell-life without being in hell! Kings and millionaires and potentates are no exceptions; they are subject to the pain and misery which the flesh is heir to. The Teacher, therefore, justly says that

Page #164

152
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
this world of transmigratory life is so full of suffering and pain that you have hardly got over one affiction when its place has been filled up with a dozen others. He who regards himself as happy on account of the possession of wealth and other like objects of desire, has only got hold of a big delusion. The good things of the world aggravate the heat and fever of lust, and depart sooner or later without producing anything like satisfaction, that is, happiness and rest and peace. It is an act of folly to regard oneself as happy when enjoying material prosperity and the like, which are acquired with a lot of trouble and exertion and whichi involve a great deal of additional trouble in guarding and protecting, and which, notwithstanding all this worry and trouble, are ultimately bound to depart, being perishable by nature ! (5) The world is wicked and evil.
" Consider the roads blócked up by robbers, the seas beset with pirates, wars scattered all over the earth with the bloody horror of camps. The whole world 18 wet with mutual blood; and murder, which in the case of an individual is admitted to be a crime, 18 alled a virtue when it is committed wholesale. Impunity 18 claimed or the wicked deeds, not on the plea that they are guiltless, but ecause the cruelty is perpetrated on : grand scale.
"And now, if you turn your eyes and your regards to the cities hemselves, you will behold a concourse more fraught with sadness han any solitude. The gladiatorial games are prepared, that blood bay gladden the lust of cruel eyes. The body is fed up with stronger ood, and the vigorous mass of limbs is enriched with brawn and auscle, that the wretch fattened for punishment may die & harder eath. Man is slaughtered that man may be gratified, and the skill that is best able to kill is an exercise and an art. Crime is not only committed but is taught. What can be said more inhuman,--what more repulsive? Training is undergone to acquire the power of murder, and the achievement of murder is its glory...

Page #165

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCES
"Hence turn your looks to the abominations, not less to be deplored, of another kind of spectacle. In the theatres also you will behold what may well cause you grief and shame. It is the tragic buskin which relates in verse the crimes of ancient days. The old horrors of parricide and incest are unfolded to express the image of truth, so that as the ages pass by, any crime that was formerly committed may not be forgotten. Adultery is learnt while it is seen; and while the mischief of having public authority panders to vice, the matron, who perchance had gone to the spectacle as a modest woman, returns from it immodest..
153
14 Oh, if... you could gaze into the secret places-if you could open the closed doors of sleeping chambers, and recall their dark recesses to the perception of sight,-you would behold things done by immodest persons which no chaste eye could look upon; you would see what even to see is a crime; you would see what people embruted with the madness of vice deny that they have done, and yet hasten to do,-men with frenzied lusts rushing upon men, doing things which afford no gratification even to those who do them. I am deceived if the man who is guilty of such things as these does not accuse others of them. The depraved maligns the depraved, and thinks that he himself, though conscious of the guilt, has escaped, as if consciousness were not a sufficient condemnation. The same people who are accusers in public are criminals in private, condemning themselves at the same time as they condemn the culprits; they denounce what they commit at home, willingly doing what, when they have done, they accuse, a daring which assuredly is fitly mated with vice, and an impudence quite in accordance with shameless people."-(Cyprian) A.N.C.L. vol. vii. pp. 5-8.
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."-James iv. 4.
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."-John ii. 15-17.

Page #166

154
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
(6) Trades of all kinds are not recommended to the arduous followers of the Faith.
"
"In vain do we flatter ourselves as to the necessities of human maintenance, if-after faith sealed we say, I have no means to live? For here I will now answer more fully that abrupt proposition. It is. advanced too late. For deliberation should have 'been made before . . . But even now you have the Lord's sayings, as examples taking away from you all excuse. For what is it you say? I shall be in need.' But the Lord calls the needy happy.' 'I shall have no food.' But think not,' says He, about food;' and as an example of clothing we have the lilies. 'My work was my subsistence.' Nay, but all things are to be sold, and divided to the needy.' 'But provision must be made for children and posterity.' 'None, putting his hand on the plough, and looking back, is fit for work.'' But I was under contract.' 'None can serve two lords.' If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, it is necessary you take your cross, and follow the Lord: [your cross] that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross. Parents, wives, children, will have to be left behind, for God's sake. Do you hesitate about arts and trades, and about professions like. wise, for the sake of children and parents? Even there it was demonstrated to us, that both dear pledges,' and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behind for the Lord's sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quite behind both father and ship; while Matthew is roused up from the toll-booth; while even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith... Faith fears not famine. It knows, likewise, that hunger is no less to be contemned by it for God's sake, than every kind of death. It has learnt not to respect life; how much more food? How many have filled these conditions?"-(Tertullian) A.N.C.L. vol. xi. pp. 158-159.
(7) With respect to the description of hell, in the nonallegorical sense also there is an agreement in this respect that there are some powerful vicious beings who torment those who reincarnate in that place.
this, I say, is man's real death, when souls which know not God shall be consumed in long-protracted torment with raging
...

Page #167

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCES
155
fire, into which certain fiercely cruel [beings) shall cast them. ..." (Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 81. (8) The Jains have always been opposed to animal sacrifice. Christianity also condemns the practice.
"Do the gods of beaven live on those sacrifices, and must material be supplied to maintain the union of their parts? And what man is there 60 ignorant of what & god is, certainly, as to think that they are maintained by any kind of nourishment, and that it is the food given to them which causes them to live and endure throughout their endless immortality? For whatever is upheld by causes and things external to itself, must be mortal and on the way to destruction, when anything on which it lives begins to be wanting." (Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 309.
“.., are the victims not slain in sacrifice to the gods, and cast upon their flaming altars to give them some pleasure and delight? And can any man persuade himself that the gods become mild as they are exhilarated by pleasures, that they long for sensual enjoyment, and, like some base creatures, are affected by agreeable sensations, and charmed and tickled for the moment by a pleasantness which soon passes away? For that which is overcome by pleasure must be harassed by its opposite, sorrow; nor [can that be] free from anxiety of grief, which trembles with joy, and is elated capriciously with gladness. But the gods should be free from both passions, if we would have them to be everlasting, and freed from the weakness of mortals. Moreover, every pleasure is, 'as it were, & kind of flattery of the body, and is addressed to the five well-known senses; but if the gods above feel it, they must partake also of those bodies through which there is a way to the senses, and a door [by which] to receive pleasures. Lastly, what pleasure is it to take delight in the slaughter of harmless creatures, to have the ears ringing often with their piteous bellowings, to see rivers of blood, the life fleeing away with the blood, and the secret parts having been · laid open, not only the intestines to protrude with the excrements, but also the heart still bounding with the life left in it, and the trembl. ing palpitating veins in the viscera... Will any one believe that the gods who are kind, beneficent, gentle, are delighted and filled with joy by the slaughter of cattle, if ever they fall and. expire pitiably

Page #168

156
before their altars? And there is no cause, then, for pleasure in the sacrifices, as we see, nor is there a reason why they should be offered ... "-Ibid. pp. 310-311.
This one thing I ask, above all, What reason is there if I kill a pig, that a god changes his state of mind, and lays aside his angry feelings and frenzy; that if I consume a pullet, a calf under his eyes and on his altars, he forgets the wrong [which I did to him], and abandons completely all sense of displeasure? What passes from this act to modify his resentment? Or of what service is a goose, a goat, or a peacock, that from its blood relief is brought to the angry god? Do the gods, then, make insulting them a matter of payment? and as little boys, to induce them to give up their fits of passion and to desist from their wailings, get little sparrows, dolls, ponies, puppets, with which they may be able to divert themselves, do the immortal gods in such wise receive these gifts from you, that for them they may lay aside their resentment, and be reconciled to those who offended them?... So if some ox, or any animal you please, which is slain to mitigate and appease the fury of the deities, were to take a man's voice and speak these words: 'Is this, then, O Jupiter, or whatever god thou art, humane or right, or should it be considered at all just, that when another has sinned I should be killed, and that you should allow satisfaction to be made to you with my blood, although I never did you wrong, never wittingly or unwittingly did violence to your divinity and majesty, being, as thou knowest, a dumb creature, not departing from the simplicity of my nature, nor inclined to be fickle in my manners? . . . What, then, is the reason that the crime of another is atoned for with my blood, and that my life and innocence are made to pay for wickedness with which I have nothing to do? Is it because I am a base creature, and am not possessed of reason and wisdom, as those declare who call themselves men, and by their ferocity make themselves beasts? Did not the same nature both beget and form me from the same beginnings? Is it not one breath of life which sways both man and me? Do I not respire and see, and am I not affected by the other senses as they are? They have livers, lungs, hearts, intestines, bellies; and do I not have as many members? They love their young, and come together to beget children; and do I not both take care to procure offspring, and delight in it when it has been begotten? ..
"
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE

Page #169

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCES
157
Is not this, then, cruel, monstrous, savage? Does it not seem to you, O Jupiter, unjust and barbarous that I should be killed, and that I should be slain, that you may be soothed, and the guilty find impunity?'"-Ibid. pp. 314-316.
"When meantime Moses, that faithful and wise steward, perceived that the vice of sacrificing to idols had been deeply ingraine into the people from their association with the Egyptians, and that the root of this evil could not be extracted from them, he allowed them indeed to sacrifice, but permitted it to be done only to God, that by any means he might cut off one half of the deeply ingrained evil, leaving the other half to be corrected by another, and at a future time; ..."—(Recognitions of Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 168. (9) Wisdom Divine, that is to say, the teaching of the Tirthamkara, in Jainism is divided into twelve departments, known as angas. In the. Bible, Wisdom is described as “a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her” (Proverbs iii. 13-18), and in Revelation the tree of life is described as bearing twelve kinds of fruits whose leaves are for the healing of nations. It is also to be noticed that the Tirthamkaras' Teaching is portrayed in Jainism in the form of a tree having just twelve branches! An illustration of this tree is kept in bronze in many temples by the Jains.
The main difference between Jainism and Christianity consists in the fact that in the former the whole teaching is expressed fearlessly and plainly, but in the latter it is hidden and secret, and fragmentary alsd. The detailed information contained in the Jaina Books could not be given to those who were unable to appreciate and grasp the general rudiménts. Jainism is characterized by a fine analysis of karmic forces, by the practical outlook implied in the division of the rugged path into the preliminary. (mild) and the advanced (austere) courses, and by a detailed description of the

Page #170

158
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
stages on the Path both in the householder's and the ascetic's courses, which enable every one of its followers to know precisely where he or she stands and what is the next thing to be done to push on with the progress made. In Christianity, the rules are in some cases obscure and only imparted in hints, and even what is given out plainly is so jumbled up together, because of the lack of appreciative hearers, that little or no aid can be derived from them for practical conduct. Indeed, the whole scheme of the Science of Salvation has been misunderstood by the followers of the Christian teaching, and it will not be without very great difficulty that they will be led into the light again.

Page #171

CHAPTER 24
THE SECRET SENSE
The following tale comes from the Jewish Esotericism, and it will show what the Jewish nation believed in regard to their religion. A certain king on one occasion invited the whole of his subjects to a feast in his palace, but left out two individuals, one of whom was blind and the other lame. But the lame man seeing the blind man near by addressed him on the subject. of the insult offered to them both by the king, and suggested that they should be revenged on him. The blind man pleaded inability to do harm to any one as he was blind; but the lame one offered to be eyes to him, if he would only consent to be legs to him in return. A compact was accordingly made between them to carry out the project of revenge. The lame man twisted a rope of grass and threw it to the blind one, who seizing it came to him, and the lame man mounting the shoulders of the blind, they proceeded to the king's garden, which they destroyed in various ways. After the feast was over the king brought his guests to show them his garden. and was much annoyed to find it destroyed. He thereupon set up an enquiry to find out the author of the mischief, and ascertained that no one excepting the blind and the lame men were absent from his feast at the time, and they alone could have done the mischief, as no cattle or stranger had been admitted in the city that day. The lame man on being accused pleaded his infirmity;
159

Page #172

160
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
and the blind one defended himself on the ground that he could not see. The king was, however, too clever for them, and had the lame man placed on the shoulders of the blind one, when they confessed that it was their work, and not of any one else.
The significance of the story is this: spirit and matter are two of the existing substances of which the former is conscious but unmoving, and the latter unconscious, though possessed of motion. The one is therefore called lame and the other, blind. In combination they assume the embodied form, and destroy the king's garden,' that is, the beauty of the spiritual nature. Separately from matter the soul is incapable of sin; it may say in the language of the Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament (by M. Rhodes James, pp. 64-67) “ The cause of sin is not of me, but of that contemptible and earthly body,.... For since it left me I have done none of these things, and it will have a good defence. ... The body cannot be judged apart from the soul for it could also reply, saying, “It was not I that sinned, it was the soul: have I, since it departed from me, committed adultery, fornication or worshipped idols?' and the body will be withstanding the judgment of God, and with reason." On page 67 of " The Lost Apocrypha of The Old Testament," the subject is again referred to in the following striking terms:
"The soul win say, 'I have not sinned; it is the body. Since I came out from it I have been like a pure bird that flies in the air.' The body says, 'I have not sinned; it is the soul. Since it went forth from me I have been like a stone that is thrown on the ground.'"
Matter (as associated with desire) it is that is des

Page #173

THE SECRET. SENSE
161 cribed as the devil in the ancient Hebrew literature, about. whom it is said :
"For the devil resisted, trying to deceive, saying, The body is mine, for I am the lord of Matter.' "-Ibid. p. 46.
In the Book of Enoch, giants are described as being produced from spirit and flesh (see p. 43):-“ And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirit and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their living. And the spirit of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and cause destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall, rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them."
These are in reality the forces of evil karma, termed karma-prakritis in the Jaina Scriptures, which resist the onward march of the aspiring soul, and delude it and lead it astray in numerous ways.
Angels stand on the same footing; they are also allegorically conceived. Philo puts the matter lucidly when he says: “ If, therefore, you'consider that souls, demons, and angels are things differing indeed in name, but one and identical in reality, you will then be able to discard that most heavy burden, superstition" (Yonge's Philo Judæus, vol. i. p. 332).
It is well to recognise the fact that allegory at one time dominated human thought. It was regarded as a great art, and the test of excellence was the seeming perversion of truth and the ability to deceive. It invaded all departments of human thought--neither history, nor geography not even genealogy escaping its
F. 11

Page #174

162
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
attention. It requires a close familiarity with the 'scriptures of the world to be able to appreciate the extent
to which allegorizing was carried on in the different countries of the world.
We shall confine ourselves in this treatise to the Christian (Biblical) allegories in the main, and offer a brief explanation of some of the quaint conceptions underlying the allegorist's work. The story of the 'fall' is the first to demand our attention. The soul 'is represented as a garden in poetical thought; its attributes are deemed to be trees. Two of these attributes are the most important; they are, therefore, placed in the centre of the garden. They are Life itself symbolized by The Tree of Life' which is also a symbol for Divine Wisdom, since Wisdom Divine and Life are but two words for one and the same thing, and also since Wisdom Divine is promised Life Abundant as its complement.
The other tree is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil' which means the determination of the values of external goods, of worldly things, from the point of view of the pleasure and the pain which they are able to afford to us individually. The result of the determination of the good and evil of things in Nature is the cultivation of likes and dislikes, or love and hatred, as they are termed in the Eastern literature. These are the fruits of the above-named tree. Why this is forbidden is because love and hatred are the causes of transmigration and the prolongation of the bondage of the soul.
The soul is immortal, and invited to turn and enjoy the fruit of the Tree of Life, that is, to attend to the adoration of its own divinity, whether directly or through

Page #175

THE SECRET SENSE
163
the teaching of the Wisdom Divine; but it remains under the subjection of death so long as it goes on eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Serpent is desire which assails man (Adam), through the pleasure-seeking side of his nature (Eve). Adam's comprehensive knowledge is apparent from the fact that he is able to find names for all creatures. Eve is made from one of the ribs of Adam, which means she stands for one of the hidden powers of the ego. It is also said concerning her that a man will forsake his father and mother and cleave unto her, the term father meaning God, that is to-say, the Divine Teacher, and mother signifying religion, as beautifully explained by Philo Judæus (Yonge's Philo Judæus, vol. i).
Eve is the mother of all living naturally, because sense-life which she allegorically represents is the cause of transmigration, which governs the lives of all embodied living beings, those who rid themselves of the weakening tendency passing on to the other shore.' Philo Judæus calls her the mother of all the dead,' which term signifies the entire community of those who are ignorant of their Divine Nature, hence, all those who are involved in transmigration.
Abel and Cain are the progeny of the sinful soul. Abel stands for blind faith, since faith is turned towards life, and Abel is described as the keeper of sheep, the symbol of livestock, hence life. Cain is reason turned towards matter, since he is described as a 'tiller of soil.' The murder of 'Abel discloses the natural' antagonism between materialistic reason and blind faith, for materialism speedily puts an end to blind faith, which cannot support itself on a scientific basis, Yet it is obvious that

Page #176

JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
164
the fruit (the offering) of the labours of the two is not equally acceptable; for one leads to divinity, and the other to damnation and perdition. Abel's offering is preferable for this reason to Cain's. Abel having been born and died, scientific knowledge is acquired by the soul that has turned to divinity, in the fulness of time; for it is the law that he who is once moved by the conception of his own divinity must, sooner or later, attain the wholeness of salvation. Accordingly, Seth is born in the fulness of time; and he calls himself by the name of the Lord.
To turn to Christian 'symbolism, the Messiah is preceded by repentant intellect who is represented by John the Baptist. He is like a voice crying in the wilderness exhorting men to repentance, and baptizing them with water. The significance is this, that when the mind is impressed with the divinity of the soul on the one hand and the terrors of transmigration, on the other, in the course of which one may be thrown into an animal form, or pass into hells and may even sink into the outer darkness,' he then repents of the life of the world. The world, then, appears to him like a wilderness, and he longs to turn over a new leaf, to turn to the faith which leads to salvation and godhood. The Baptism (purification) is only thus far intellectual, and means intelligent conviction, which is, nevertheless, the foundation of the subsequent temple of divinity to be raised on it.
The Messiah baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The term 'fire' signifies asceticism. In Jewish Esotericism, this fire was described as Intelligent Fire.' The "Pistis Sophia speaks of a very great, very vehement wise fire which will burn up sins.' (The Lost
6
93

Page #177

THE SECRET SENSE
165
Apocrypha of the Old Testament, p. 90.) It is said in the same work:-"We say that the fire sanctifies not the flesh but the sinful soul; we do not mean the all-devouring ordinary fire, but the intelligent, that penetrates the soul that passes through the fire." Tertullian also says (A.N.C.L. vol. si. p. 136): “ The philosophers are familiar as well as we with the distinction between a common and a secret fire."
As Philo Judæus puts it: “ The altar of God is the grateful soul of the wise man, ..... On this-soul the sacred fire is continually kept burning preserved with care and unextinguishable."
The idea is that spirit and matter cannot be separated completely from one another except through the agency of this secret 'intelligent' fire. Death, it should be noted, is not tantamount to a complete separation between spirit and matter. Some matter continues to adhere to the spirit-substance in demise, and under subjection to subtle, magnetic forces, drags the soul into a new womb.' Thus is transmigration forced on the embodied soul. By means of asceticism, complete separation between spirit and matter is brought about, when the roots of desire are completely destroyed; for fresh matter can no longer pour into the soul and the existing one loses its stickiness and is soon shed off.
The Messiah is called the bridegroom,' because He is the - enjoyer of joy or happiness, which is conceived allegorically as a bride, since a bride gives the greatest happiness to the bridegroom.
The mystery of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost is to be understood in this sense: Life in the abstract is the Father, whose divinity being hidden under

Page #178

166
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
the encrustation of matter is not revealed. The Son is the purified ego who emerges from the unrevealed divinity of life (spirit-substance). The Father and the Son are really co-eval because the soul-substance is common to both the conditions, being hidden in one case and manifested in the other. But in so far as the revealed or manifested divinity arises at a point of time in the history of the soul; the manifested divinity is called the Son.' St. Paul used the word 'heir'in place of the
Son,' which is even more expressive, since there is an end to the unmanifested divinity when the manifestation of the glory of the soul has taken place.
The Holy Ghost' is the Spirit which makes one holy, that is, 'whole.' The understanding (A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 153) of Right Action is personified as the
Holy Spirit.' It is the spirit of complete renunciation. The Holy Ghost' is the Comforter, because infinite happiness is obtained by the soul through it; it is also the teacher and revealer of all things, because Omniscience itself is to be obtained through it. The birth of the 'Son' takes place in an immaculate manner; for it is the result of the brooding of Spirit over (the problem of) Life, and also because it takes place in the soulsubstance, not of a female! The Birth of Christ,' the Saviour, is the foundation of the divinity of the soul; but the forces of evil (desires and passions and appetites) are still too powerful to enable it to resort to asceticism fully. The Child,' therefore, develops in secret and does not appear publicly, till he has grown strong. He is then described as sitting at the right hand of power till his enemies be subdued.' The statement is a beautiful description of the work of faith which imperceptibly

Page #179

THE SECRET SENSE
167
and slowly destroys the forces of evil, and leads to the development of the spirit of renunciation and courage and confidence.
Many miraculous powers are acquired by the advanced ascetics. The miracles described in allegorical scriptures are, however, symbolical only; they do not take place outside in the world, but in the soulsubstance. Nevertheless, there is unchallengeable testimony of the ancients to show that many miracles were actually performed by holy men.
Crucifixion is the doctrine of the Cross, that is to say, of treating the body as if it were a wooden cross on which the soul were impaled, and from which it had to be removed. The form of the body itself is that of the cross, if the hands be stretched out on the sides. The ascetic carries his body with him through life like a cross, regarding it as his bitterest enemy, and will not attend to its comforts and wants. He knows what be is working for, that is, divinity and immortality; and he knows what he is escaping from, that is, suffering and pain and misery, implied in transmigration. When the culmination in renunciation is reached four "miracles' attend the event. These are, the 'rending of the rocks,' ' the darkening of the sun,' the tearing of the veil of the temple,' and 'the giving up of the dead by the graves.' Their significance is as follows: the rocks that are rent are the knots of the karmic forces which hold the soul in captivity and bondage; the sun that is darkened is the light of the lower mind, that is, reason, since that is destroyed when omniscience rises in the soul. It will be noticed that omniscience is incompatible with reason, and cannot be attained 80

Page #180

168
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
long as reason exists. The veil of the temple that is destroyed is the veil of matter in the temple of the body behind which is hidden the divinity of Life; and the graveyard is the cemetery of memory, in which lie buried the recollections of the past. It means the recovery of the knowledge of the past lives of the soul in the fulness of omniscience.
Resurrection means the rising from the dead; and the dead stand for those who are spiritually dead (unenlightened) though they may be alive physically, as will be evident from the statement " Leave the dead to bury their dead.” Resurrection means the going up of the Perfected Soul to the Sacred Abode of Gods. Thus understood, the doctrine of Christianity is really the doctrine of salvation, imparted in a secret manner. We have it from Clement:
"... Abandon the alien possessions that are in thy soul, that, becoming pure in heart, thou mayest see God; which is another way of saying, enter into the kingdom of heaven."-A.N.C.L. vol. xxii. p. 199.
With regard to geographical allegories, Tertullian 'tells us :
"He designated idolatry under the name of Samaria, as that city was shameful for its idolatry, through which it had then revolted from God from the days of king Jeroboam. Nor is this an unusual manner for the Creator (in His Scriptures] to figuratively employ names of places as a metaphor derived from the analogy of their sing. Thus He calls the chief men of the Jews 'rulers of Sodom,' and the nation itself people of Gomorrha.' And in another passage He also says : Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hituite,' by reason of their kindred iniquity [to the sins of these nations]; although He had actually called them His song : 'I have nourished and brought up children' So likewise by Egypt is some

Page #181

THE SECRET SENSE
169
times understood, in His sense, the whole world as being marked out by superstition and a curse. By & similar passage Babylon also in our St. John is & figure of the city of Rome, as being like [Babylon) great and proud in royal power, and warring down the saints of God."-A.N.C.L. vol. vii. p. 146.
This world (of transmigration) is regarded as female, and the world to come' (Nirvana) as male (Clementine Homilies : A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 66), the former representing Pleasure (Sense-life) and the latter Reason (Knowledge), as Philo Judæus points out (see Yonge's Philo Judæus, vol. i).
To come down to historical allegories, the following from Clementine Homilies (A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 56) is lucid enough for our requirements:
"Then Peter answered : ' Assuredly, with good reason, I neither believe anything against God, nor against the just men recorded in the law, taking for granted that they are impious imaginations. For, as I am persuaded, neither was Adam a transgressor, who was fashioned by the hands of God; nor was Noah drunken, who was found righteous above all the world ; nor did Abraham live with three wives at once, who, on account of his sobriety, was thought worthy of a numerous posterity; nor did Jacob associate with fourof whom two were sisters—who was the father of the twelve tribes, and who intimated the coming of the presence of our Master; nor was Moses a murderer, nor did he learn to judge from an idolatrous priest-he who set forth the law of God to all the world, and for his right judgment has been testified to as a faithful steward. But of these and such like things I shall afford you an explanation in due time. But for the rest, since, as you see, the evening has come upon us, let what has been said be enough for to-day.'"
"... And Isaac 18 shown to mean 'self-taught': wherefore also be 18 discovered to be a type of Christ. He was the husband of one wife Rebecca, which they translate 'Patience.' And Jacob is said to have consorted with several, bis name being interpreted
Exerciser.' And exercises are engaged in by means of many and various dogmas. Whence, also, he who is really endowed with the

Page #182

170
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
"power of seeing' is called Israel, (Philo, ... interprets Israel 'seeing God ') having much experience, and being fit for exercise ... Wherefore also, when Sarob was jealous at Hagar being preferred to her, Abraham, as choosing only what was profitable in secular philosopby, said, 'Behold, thy maid is in thine bands : deal with her as it pleases thee.' (Gen. xvi. 6), manifestly meaning, 'I embrace secular culture as youthful, and a handmaid; but thy knowledge I honour and reverence as true wife.' And Sarah afflicted her; which 18 equivalent to corrected and admonished her."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 369.
“And Scripture will afford a testimony to what has been said in what follows. Sarab was at one time barren, being Abraham's Wifè. Sarah having no child, assigned her maid, by name Hagar, the Egyptian, to Abraham, in order to get children. Wisdom, there. fore, who dwells with the man of faith (and Abraham was reckoned faithful and righteous), was still barren and without child in that generation, not having brought forth to Abraham aught allied to virtue. And she, as was proper, thought that he, being now in the time of progress, should have intercourse with secular culture first (by Egyptian the world is designated figuratively); and afterwards should approach to her according to divine providence, and beget Isaac."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 368.
“The word Isaac I also connect with child. Isaac means laughter. He was seen sporting with his wife and helpmeet Rebecca by the prying king (
Gen. xxvi. 8). The king, whose name was Abi. melech, appears to me to represent a supramundane wisdom contemplating the mystery of sport. They interpret Rebecca to mean endurance. Owise sport, laughter also assisted by endurance, and the king as spectator. The spirit of those that are children in Christ, whose lives are ordered in endurance, rejoice. And this is divine sport. Such a sport, of his own, Jove sports,' Boys Heraclitus. For what other employment is seemly for a wise and perfect man, than to sport and be glad in the endurance of what is good, and, in the administration of what is good, bolding festival with God? That which 18 signified by the prophet may be interpreted differently, namely, of our rejoicing for salvation, as Isaac. He also, delivered
from death, laughed, sporting and rejoicing with his spouse, who was the type of the Helper of our salvation, the church, to whom

Page #183

THE SECRET SENSE
171
the stable name of endurance is given; for this cause surely, because she alone remains to all generations, rejoicing ever, subsisting as she does by the endurance of us believers, who are the members of Christ. And the witness of those that have endured to the end, and the rejoicing on their account, is the mystic sport, and the salvation accompanied with decorous solace which brings us aid."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 128.
"... very many events are figuratively predicted by means of enigmas and allegories and parables, and they must be understood in a sense different from the literal description........ When the very Apostle whom the heretics adopt, interprets the law which allows an unmuzzled mouth to the oxen that tread out the corn, not of cattle, but of ourselves; and also alleges that the rock which followed [the Israelites] and supplied them with drink was Christ; teaching the Galatians, moreover, that the two narratives of the sons of Abraham had an allegorical meaning in their course; and to the Ephesians giving an intimation that, when it was declared in the beginning that a man should leave his father and mother and become one flesh with his wife, he applied this to Christ and the Church."-(Tertullianus) A.N.C.L. vol. vii. pp. 126-127.
The passage in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians referred to in the last quotation is as ' follows:
"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it 15 written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freetoman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory : for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which 18 Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and anstvereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above 18 free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren which bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate bath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now, we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the

Page #184

172
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture ? Cast out the bond woman and her son : for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."--Gal. iv. 21-31.
As for the actual explanation of this interesting allegory, we must first of all remember what St. Paul says about genealogies in 1 Timothy i. 4, namely: "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith ...." There are two personalities of the embodied soul, namely, firstly, it has a bodily personality, and, secondly, an inner Self. Of these, the bodily ego is the progeny of impure spirit, which, being involved in the bondage of sin, is described as a bondwoman. The bondwoman's son, therefore, is the man that has a label, by way of a name, and has a date and place of birth and a local residence in a town or place. The freewoman, on the other hand, is the spiritual substance in its natural state of purity--which is fully Divine and therefore also free by nature. This Spirit substance is promised, by Religion, on the condition of the acceptance of Right Faith, that she will give birth. in her old age (for she is as old as time) to the purified Self that shall be heir to Divine inheritance. Hence, is the Spiritual Ego born of promise, the other being after the flesh. Purity of Spiritual nature is described as a barren woman, for the same reason; for she has had: no 'Son' thus far (throughout the eternity of time. known as the past). Jerusalem which now is, is descriptive of the present condition of the soul-substance in bondage with her children, that is to say, with its. natural attributes all held in check. But Jerusalem

Page #185

THE SECRET SENSE
173
that is above, namely, the pure natural condition of the soul-substance, that is Spirit, is diviñe and free, which is the true mother (nature or source of being) of all living beings. But although the soul-substance is
barren' (functionless) now on account of the bondage of sin, still her natural purity is only held in
bondage ': it has not been destroyed altogether. She is, therefore, bidden to rejoice, because she will be enabled, under proper guidance and instruction, to manifest her infinity of divine attributes. The moral of the story is drawn in the last four verses in its application to human life. We, too, like the Isaac of the allegory; are the children of promise (that is to say, have the full spiritual nature), though still subject to persecution from the physical (i.e., the bodily) self, that is to be destroyed. Religion exhorts us to cast out the bondwoman and the lower ego (described as her son), for the two, i.e., the lower and the spiritual egos, cannot be heir to the divine inheritance together, by any possibility.
Of course it is possible for us to say that St. Paul did not know what he was talking about, and that the other authorities referred to in this connection are all wrong, and that Abraham and the members of his family were nothing but historical personages; but we shall be losing sight of the fact that St. Paul has infallibility ascribed to him by those who have bequeathed the New Testament to us, and in interpreting the sacred compilation termed the Bible, we shall have to be guided, if we are reasonable men, by what he says, and not by our individual faltering notions.
With reference to the merit of this interpretation, it can be seen at a glance that a historical reading of the

Page #186

174
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
doings of the family in question is in no way creditable to any one, least of all to Jehovah who wanted Abraham to sacrifice the life of his own son, as if his son was his private property. It is not in keeping with the dignity of either God or man, and it makes a wholesale massacre of human morality. The allegorical interpretation, on the other hand, as given above, is highly valuable for the purpose of salvation, and it will hold good down to the end of time; for wherever a soul shall cast out the 'bondwoman's son' (the lower personality) and instal the freewoman's son' (the divine personality) in his place, there Godhood and immortality and all other divine qualities shall be attained.
It is interesting to note in this connection that the Jews themselves interpret the narration concerning the patriarchs allegorically. Philo Judæus shows (Yonge's Philo Judæus, vol. ii. pp. 347, 350 and 351) that Reuben is acuteness, Simeon learning, Levi virtuous energies, Judas songs and hymns, Issachar 'works,' Zabulon light, that is, the departure of 'night,' Dan discrimination, Gad attacking oncoming pirates, Asser blessed possessions or wealth, Napthali peace, Benjamin young and old times and Joseph multiform and mixed knowledge.
As regards the demons, we have already seen that they represent desires generally. But ignorance is also one of their number, for ignorance which is tantamount to body-consciousness (as distinguished from soulconsciousness) itself is the cause of the union of spirit and matter, and, therefore, of transmigration. Accordingly Clement says:
"If therefore you wish to be the vesture of the Divine Spirit,

Page #187

THE SECRET SENSE
175
hasten first to put off your base presumption, which is an unclean spirit, and a foul garment."-A.N.C.L. vol. xvii. p. 147.
It is also interesting to know that the seven demons of the mystic thought are presumably the total of the three kinds of the base presumption, that is to say, of ignorance (namely, 1. falsehood, 2. mixed truth and falsehood and 3. truth tinged with superstition) and the four principal passions (anger, pride, deceit and greed). When these are destroyed, then alone can Right Faith be acquired by the soul.

Page #188

CHAPTER 25
THE SAVIOUR CHRIST
The first twenty-two of the Elders (Tirthamkaras) belong to pre-historic history; and but little more than a memory, preserved reverently in the Scriptures of Religion, remains to remind us of Their having lived on our Earth some time in the past. The first of Them was Rişabha Deva who may be said to have opened the Path of Salvation to the humanity in the current cycle of time. The twenty-second one, too, flourished many many thousands of years ago (about 86,500 years ago according to the Jaina account). He was Nemi Nāth, the cousin of Krishna, who himself was a real historical personage, and round whose towering personality the Hindus have woven the charming imagery of the Saviour God. After Nemi Nāth’s Nirvana, religion once again suffered from the: forgetfulness and indifference of men, and was perhaps altogether lost to the world. The twenty-third Tirthamkara was Pārsva Nath, who 'flourished something like 2,750 years ago · He lived for a hundred years and attained Nirvana. In His day religion received fresh impetus, and men from far and near carried away the teaching of the Divine Teacher with them to enlighten their friends. His disciples kept the torch burning after Him. Then came Mahāvīra who was born 2,528 years ago, and who lived 72 years amongst men. He attained omniscience at the age of 42, and taught the noble truth for 30 years. In
176

Page #189

THE SAVIOUR CHRIST
177
His time, too, men from outside countries must have come, to drink at the very Fountainhead of Wisdom Divine. Some of the Greeks are known to have visited India about that time.
There is one little circumstance which seems to show that the foundation of the New Testament of the Bible was laid not 1,800-1,900 years ago, but about 500 years still earlier. Those of the texts in the gospels which refer to the promised " coming of the son of man ”e.g., “ There be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the son of man come in his kingdom" (Matt. xvi. 28, see also Luke ix. 27)_could not possibly hold good of later times than about 60 years after the Nirvana of Mahārīra Himself. The reason is this that Nzrvana has been no longer attainable by the inferior type of humanity that has appeared on our globe since that time. A period of 42,000 years still remained to complete the age of the current cycle on the Nirvana of Mahāvīra which occurred 2,456 years ago, and it has been predicted about it that no one will be able to attain salvation during this period. The hearens will be shut up, so to speak, then. In the Bible, too, there is a concealed reference to this shutting up of the heavens for three years and sis months' (Luke iv. 25), which would mean 42,000 years if every month of the period be taken to be equal to a thousand years. Not one soul born during this period has attained salvation or can attain it, the claims of men to the contrary (if any) notwithstanding.
If we now read in the literal sense the text about the coming of the son of man, which expression is used interchangeably in the Bible with the kingdom of
F. 12

Page #190

178
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
heaven, it will follow that they embody a promise which could not have been fulfilled and an expectation which could not be realized. But it is not very likely that the authors of Christianity, whose knowledge has been seen to be so very precise and accurate, could be ignorant of such a matter as this. It would seem to follow from this that the origin of Christianity must have been conceived while Mahāvīra was still in this world or very very shortly thereafter, though for centuries the seed lay quite dormant and inactive.
How and in what manner the gospels were composed is not known. It would seem that the teaching of the Tirthaikara was brought to the Holy Land by some - one, or rather by more than one persons, who not unlikely composed the document designated as “Q” by the modern investigator. Perhaps a secret drama used to be played about the great Attainment, in mystic style. When the number of admirers increased the amplified gospels were composed, half revealing, half concealing the truth. Various kinds of precautions were taken to prevent the historical sense from impressing itself on the devotee's mind. But the men who generally Trere admitted in large numbers in the fold, in the hope of being enlightened at leisure later on, proved very unpliant, and heresies and antagonisms soon became rampant in the community. Outside persecution--bitter and relentless in naturem-added to the difficulties of the propounders of the truth, and alas ! the word of wisdom became buried deeper and deeper with each succeeding generation, till what is a real perversion of the true doctrine came to be ranked as the truth.
The humanity of today is grossly indifferent to their

Page #191

THE SAVIOUR CHRIST
179 own real good. They have no desire to know the truth. Clement would have called them evil, as he says :
"Self-love is the foundation of goodness. First of all, then, he is evil, in the judgment of God, who will not enquire what is advantageous to himself. For how can any one love another, if he does not love himself? Or to whom will that man not be an enemy, who cannot be a friend to himself ? "-A.N.C.L. vol. ii. pp. 267-268.
Clement again says, as if to emphasize his point:
"But God alone is eternal, and abideth unchangeable. He, therefore, who will not seek after that which is profitable to himself, is evil, to such an extent that bis wickedness exceeds the very prince of impiety. For he abuses the goodness of God to the purpose of bis own wickedness, and pleases himself; but the other neglects the good things of his own salvation, that by his own destruction he may please the evil one."-Ibia. iii. p. 268.
It is, indeed, hard for the humanity of our day to realize such subtle conceptions of charming allegory as the Saviour Christ, who is not a being bụt an “idea " that should abide in the hearts of all, so that they may be led to follow, in this way, in the footsteps of some real man who, by his own effort, forced open the path of Life and Joy Eternal.
To realize fully the intricate elegance of the idea of the Saviour Christ, the following points should be borne in mind
1) That the kingdom of God is an internal state, not a geographical or historical domain or kingship in the world of men.
2) That no one can help a man, except to the extent of imparting useful instruction.
3) That the blood of another cannot possibly lead

Page #192

180
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
.
to one's salvation; but that the true significance of the “ blood of Christ” is the doctrine of salvation :
". And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son,' he says, 'cleanses 118' For the doctrine of the Lord, which is very powerful, is called His blood."--(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 148.
4) That the significance of the expression “ when the Saviour shall be manifested” is only the attain- ment of perfection by the soul :
"... 'And it bath not yet appeared that we shall be'; that is, to what kind of glory we shall attain. 'For if He shall be manifested, that is, if we are made perfect, -' we shall be like Him, as reposing and justified, pure in virtue, so that we may see Him' (H18 countenance) as He is, by comprehension.'"-(Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. pp. 151-152.
5) That the Saviour says of himself: “ All who ever came before me are thietes and robbers ” (John 1. 8), which is quite absurd in the literal sense, and only refers to a secret significance. The conception of divinity which is to lead one to obtain life in abundance, may justly claim that all other conceptions in the human mind whatsoever and howsoever conceived were only the dissipaters and purloiners of life, hence robbers and thieves, and that it itself is the only door to Life Eternal !
6) That the significance of the espressions born of God and begotten of God is also secret:
"... ye know that every one that doeth righteousness 18 born of him."-John ir. 29.
"We know that whosoever is born of God. sinnetla not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."-Ibid. v. 18.
There is mention in Revelation i. 5 of the first

Page #193

THE SAVIOUR CHRIST
181
begotten of the dead which would only mean the first one to turn from ignorance to Light.
"We, too, are first-born sons, who are reared by God, who are the genuine friends of the First-born, who first of all other men attained to the knowledge of God, who first were wrenched away from our sins, first severed from the devil. And now the more benevolent God 18, the more impiou8 men are; for He desires us from slaves to become sons, while they scorn to become sons."—(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 81.
7) That the expression the body of Christ' only means the church (Colossians i. 24), which itself means the body of doctrines and not a building or temple.
The nnystery of Christ which is referred to in Colossians iv. 3 and in other tests in the Bible, thus means that it is the “ idea " of one's Godhood that is the Saviour of the soul and that has been personified as a Divine Redeemer.
This Divine “ Idea " is an object of meditation, but it was not intended for worship. A real Man-God is required to take pattern after. As a Divine Concept the allegorical saviour is properly born of a virgin; an actual Man-God must nevertheless have a natural human birth. Allegorical saviours may eat flesh and drink wine, as it is said:
"The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Be. hold a man gluttonous, and a wine-babber, .."-Matt. xi. 19. in defiance of their own precept for mercy " I will have mercy and not sacrifice”-they may curse and swear and use offensive speech" ye generation of vipers !"; "0. ye hypocrites” etc.—but the real ManGod will never use any but sweet speech ; He will never eat fish, flesh or fowl; He will never kill a living being

Page #194

182
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
for His own or any one else's use, nor sanction this being done in any way. He will not even curse a plant.
It would seem, indeed, that a good deal of the repugnant element was deliberately introduced into the writings to prevent their being read historically. Hints were also thrown out for proper guidance of the seeker in the direction in which lies the hidden sense. He was to seek first of all the meaning of the names used which would be an adequate guide to a really discriminating soul. Jehovah is, thus, Life personified:
That mystic name which is called the Tetragrammaton, by which alone they who had access to the Holy of Holies were protected, is pronounced Jehovah, which means, Who 18, and who shall be.'" (Syriac Documents) A.N.C.L. vol. xxiv. p. 177.
"
"I am
<< I am " which is also one of the names of Jehovah, again means life. In Deuteronomy (xxx. 20) "Lord thy God" is said to be " 'thy life." In Revelation (i. 18) the Risen Saviour describes himself as he that liveth, and was dead [was deprived of immortality through ignorance]; and, behold. I am alive for evermore [that is, I have now attained to immortal life]
""
·
Unless there be a clear conception of what is implied in Right Action and how and in what manner it is to be put into practice, and, above all, living examples of Men who have gone on before, it is not very likely that any real progress will be made by the novice. Indeed, men seem to have gone astray a good deal in the past account of the mystic uncertainty surrounding allegorical doctrines, from sheer inability to define the course of proper conduct for themselves.
on

Page #195

THE SAVIOUR CHRIST
183
The best way to be cured of prejudice and superstition is always to remember that such terms as God and Father were great mysteries, which the preachers of the Word of Truth in many lands kept back from all excepting the approved pupils. Note how the Apostle Peter puts off an ordinary enquirer on an occasion (A.N.C.L. vol. iii. p. 232):
“Then Peter said ... 'You seem to me not to know what & father and a God is : but I could tell you both whence souls are, and when and how they were made; but it is not permitted to me Row to disclose these things to you, who are in such error in respect of the knowledge of God.'"
The relationship between Jainism and Christianity may be summed up in one short sentence; the one describes the life of the God-Man in plain language, the other does it with allegorical orientation; in one, Mahāvīra (the last of the Tirthamkaras) is the God-Man whose example is to be followed; in the other He is in figurative style, idolised as a Redeemer of souls. It may be pointed out that there have been many worldredeemers in the different religions of the world, but they have all had at their back the life of one of the 24 Jinas or Elders as a solid fact. The references to a Saviour Christ in the early mystical writings or expositions must be read as referring to a real Jina, who alone is omniscient, not to an allegorical representation of Jina-hood. The writers knew that no one who disguised his thought or resorted to the allegorical style, that has misled millions and millions of seekers after the Truth, could be deemed to be omniscient, as is evident from the lucid statement from the Clementine Homilies (A.N.C.L. xvii. 61-62), quoted in 'our fifth

Page #196

184
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
chapter ante, and they were certainly not going to regard any one who was not endowed with Full Knowledge as a TEACHER. Least of all can we imagine them as paying homage to a pure personification or abstraction.

Page #197

CHAPTER 26
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Looking over the results attained in the preceding pages of this book, we may say that Jainism is a system of religion entirely rational, logical, scientific and selfcontained. It is characterized by practicability which is the hallmark of all true Sciences, and is able at once to explain all the hidden mysteries of human thought contained in the diverse Scriptures of the world. Ritualistic observance as well as inner experience are all controlled by the rationalism of scientific thought. The teaching of the omniscient l'irthamkaras, no doubt, covers a vaster ground than can be reached by the intellect, but within the field of the intellect itself everything is intelligible and intellectually conceivable.
I once heard a lady speaker who claimed that religion as a matter of inner experience, and who asserted that one day Christ came into her bed-room and stood at the foot of her bed. The good woman, however, never stopped to consider whether Gods or World-Redeemers had nothing better to do than to visit people in their bed-rooms, or to stand at the foot of their beds. It would probably be news to, her to know that an inner experience like the one she had and on which she pinned her conviction could be obtained by merely devoting the mind to an idea, which would enable it to be visualized with the greatest ease. What is needed is the dedicating of the mind to an idea. If
185

Page #198

186
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
you dedicate it to a god-any god whether real or imaginary it matters not which he will be visualized in your consciousness. But it would no more be a real Christ that one saw that way than the Tomb of a saint if one visualized a tomb. It is no good telling me that the experience is a real thing to you. Every delusion of a monomaniac is always a real thing to him. This kind of inner experience is the last refuge of slovenly thought.
To put on Christ' does not mean that a WorldRedeemer can be put on like a garment by any one. We also have in the Christian literature the expression, 'Lest Christ be dead in you.' This would not mean the death of a World-Saviour any more than the expression let Christ be born in you' would indicate the birth of a World-Redeemer in you. These, and kindred expressions only signify one idea, namely, the entertainment of the conception of one's divinity, or the rejection of it by the mind. If the conception is entertained, you have 'put on Christ,' and you may say
Christ is born within you.' If having entertained the Right Faith you fall back again into error and misbelief 'Christ is dead' in you! There is no kind of inner experience which can be unscientific or destitute of a law. Jainism enables one to understand and analyse one's inner states and experiences fully at every stage.
We may take it that the authors of Christianity could have also explained many more things if they found their audiences eager to understand and grasp and retain. It is to the glory of Jainism that it is at once both simple and most elaborate and elegant. On

Page #199

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
187
the side of simplicity, its teaching only means this: believe in yourself; know yourself; manifest yourself! There is nothing more; this is all! On the side of elaboration, it is capable of descending into the utmost minutiæ of rational thought and scientific analysis. The teaching of Jainism is characterized by what is known as relativity of thought, which means the system of diverse and inter-related standpoints. Jainism studies Nature from all possible points of view, and then sums up the results, which are naturally characterized by this relativity of thought. In consequenco of this, Jainism is able to reconcile all systems of religion, theology, and mythology which still contain and adhere to the grain of truth.' The main difference between other religions and Jainism is this, that it is purely a science and that the Jaina records are non-allegorical, whilst the Scriptures of almost all other religions are allegorical. Jainism was founded, and is always founded by Man. As a Science, it is eternal; and Science-like, it is periodically lost and rediscovered. In this cycle of time, it was rediscovered by the first Man who attained salvation, whose name was Rişabha Deva: He was a Jina, which means a conqueror--a conqueror of his lower nature, of matter, of the demons of desires and lusts--and he overcame the world. He it' was rho really taught his disciples : ‘Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. This meant only: ' follow my example, and you will also overcome the world.' The word Jain is taken from 'Jina,' and indicates a follower of the Jina. Jainism is the oldest religion for the aforesaid reason. Whosoever is the first Man to attain salvation is always, in each new cycle of time,

Page #200

188
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
the founder of Jainismthe Path of the Jinas. His knowledge is certain, definite, scientific, and practical, and He will not resort to allegory and metaphor. He is never afraid of any one, and speaks the truth without fear or favour.
To come to Christianity: the submission made, in due bumility, to the Popes and Prelates of the Christian Churches is this: that they should reconsider whether they have or have not understood the teaching of the Founders of Christianity. Jainism is a missionary religion and we are ever happy to welcome new brethren; but we are more anxious to remove the misunderstandings and misconceptions of humanity than to make a slow of numbers. I am not out now to make any converts, but I am ansious that, if possible, the misunderstandings which have arisen and the misconceptions that have been formed concerning the teaching of Christianity be removed; and I shall consider my aim in life fulfilled and my ambition realized if one man even is led to understand his religion, not mine, in the proper way. I already have the assurance from one Englishman that after reading my book "The Key of Knowledge,' he understood what Christianity was. I think he paid me the highest compliment when he said to me, “ You are the one man who made me a Christian.” I am ansious that his good example should be followed by as many people as possible. I request, therefore, the leaders of Christian thought to think over the contents of the preceding pages and chapters of this book, dispassionately, weighing every word of the valuable quotations which I have been able to put together from the early Christian literature.

Page #201

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
189
Concerning the Epistles and the Writings of the Apostolic and the early Fathers of the Christian Church, it should be borne in mind, as has been pointed out earlier, that their authors were anxious to reveal, but forced to conceal, their true views. The different Epistles have all one end in view, to push the knowledge, if possible, a step further, in each new document; and the same line of conduct is followed in the writings of the Apostolic and other' early 'Fathers' of the Church mostly, though we may be sure that true enlightenment is not to be found in every one of the writers. Irenæus, for instance, even writes that Jesus lived to be an old man, and that his ministry covered a period of at least ten years! It is even said in the Introduction (see pages svii and xviii) to the fifth volume of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library that “ upon these and some other points the judgment of Irenæus is at fault," and that “ upon the whole his style is very involved and prolix”! It is to the glory of the Epistles and the Writings of the early Fathers' of the Christian Church that it is still possible to reconstruct a complete system in the main outline of the teaching of the Science of Salvation which was conceived and preached by the Founders of Christianity, for the benefit of the people in the Holy Land. The results attained furnish a complete system, scientific, self-contained, useful, and, within certain limits, practical.
But it may be asked, 'What reliance can you place upon fragments thus discovered from such a heterogeneous collection as the Epistles and Writings of the AntoNicene Fathers?' The answer may be given by another

Page #202

190
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
question: How is it that you get a complete philosophical system out of fragments and bits? Does a Judge in a Court of Law reject the document composed of fragments, discovered by a painstaking detective, from the contents of the accused person's vaste paper basket? Not only this but we find that every writer is imbued with the same thought. Many of these fragments are full and complete in themselves, and all tend in the same direction. I think the results attained are wonderful. As I said elsewhere, I may be pardoned if I place them at a height which has not even thus far been regarded as possible of attainment. This is the level at which prevail lasting harmony, enduring goodwill, unbreakable peace! All religions are reconciled. Here all differences melt away into nothing, and men will wonder at their former short-sightedness that is now, happily, a thing of the past. Individually, also, converging testimony from what used to be regarded as hostile encampments will ever tend, more and more, to strengthen faith in the divinity of the Self, filling the interior with Life and Light and growing confidence. The results attained may be summed up as follows:
1) all whole scriptures have been explained, or at least have been shown to be explainable, leaving no unintelligible residue to clash with the established truth;
2) all inconsistencies and differences have been harmonized, or at least shown to be capable of being harmonized, between different scriptures, and the different books, of the same creed;
3) the opposition of scientific rationalism has been broken up;

Page #203

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
191
4) a consistent, honourable and practical doctrine has been established, which aims at and is intended to secure the highest benefits for men, and the Grace and Joy of Life for all living beings, including those in the lower grades of existence;
5) and last but not the least of all, a lasting and abiding agreement, which is the real guarantee of eternal friendship, has been established, without denying, or in any way restricting, the legitimate scope, aspiration and function of any of the parties!
With reference to Science also, I should like to say that it will pay us more if we cease to look upon the ancients as primitive men or baby monkeys. It is best to recognise that sweeping generalizations are apt to mislead. Humanity attained to such grandeur in the past' that men became and came to be known as Gods. On the other hand, there were complete savages also living side by side at the same time on earth. It will be as unreasonable to say that every one on earth was an omniscient God in the past as it would be to say that every one was a primitive savage. Religion admits the fact of evolution within certain limits. There is evolution of the bodies which religion leaves for those who are interested in the subject; there is evolution of the soul in which it is really interested; but religion refuses to follow the line of thought which leaves out of account the soul. Modern Science practically knows nothing about the nature of knowledge, though it knows how to classify knowledge. It knows little or nothing about consciousness; it knows nothing about perception !
We may quote from Wm. MacDougall who is as good a psychologist as one can easily think of, to show

Page #204

192
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
that the knowledge of modern science about these things is practically nil:
" It is true that we do not know, and probably never shall know or be able to understand how the physical stimulus to a sense organ or 'nerve evokes or results in a sensation, an idea, or a representation."-(Modern Materialism and Emergent Erolution, Ed. 1929, p. 56.) : If this is all that can be said about the knowledge of consciousness and perception, what right have the modern scientists to talk about the existence or nonexistence of a soul? At one time it used to be taught by modern science that consciousness was a product of the brain, and certain functions of it were dependent on and bound up in definite parts of the brain. To-day, Mr. MacDougall tells us (Ibid. pp. 86 & 87):
Io general, it may be said, the evidence supports the view that in some sense the brain functions as a whole; and that, when one part' is destroyed, other parts can in a surprising manner take over as it were the impaired functions; or, at least, the impaired functions are restored and become correlated with parts of the brain other than those with which they were originally or normally correlated. These facts are far more opposed to the view that function depends altogether on material structure than are the instances of regeneration of bodily organs and functions. For in these cerebral instances, the different parts of the structure are not regenerated."
The extraordinary intelligence of little bees and ants cannot be explained away by referring to the size or shape of the brain, nor by the use of such phrases as 'development on different and divergent lines.' We have still to ask, how sensation could develop in a substance that was absolutely devoid of it originally; and will anybody undertake to explain how the operation of the external stimulus or environments and modifica

Page #205

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
193
tions in a certain part of the forehead could develop sight;, about a couple of inches lower down, smell; a few inches to the right and left, hearing; and one inch below the nose, taste? Does not the inability to account for these developments suggest that these faculties really develop from within? Their manifestation depends upon the association of matter-convolutions of the brain or whatever else you like to call it but they cannot be created anew purely by the external stimulus. If we regard human consciousness as a stream without an enduring ego, then the important question arises, who carries on parliamentary debates and other elaborate processes of mental activity? It is a wonderful stream :: each group of molecules receives complete and full enlightenment the very instant of its birth, and is able at once to push on with the process from the point where its predecessor left it, and also to expire that very moment!
Science is inclined to regard the other senses than touch as modifications of touch itself. But would it enlighten us as to the ratio between touch and sight and hearing, and so on? How many times has touch to be multiplied by itself before sight will result? What multiple of sight is hearing? How do we get smell out of sight or vice versa and how does taste arise? With due respect to the great men who have deservedly attained to fame in the materialistic sciences, it is submitted that the modern science of psychology is still in its infancy, and does not justify any such rash conclusion as 'a denial of the soul. It is also submitted that scientists have failed to understand what religion really taught, and have allowed themselves to be deceived by
F. 13

Page #206

194
JAINISN, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
misunderstood theology, pássing current as religion. I may say that I am out not to condemn, but to commend. The achievements of modern science within the sphere of physics, chemistry and allied sciences, are remarkably good; they have broken through the array of centuries-old superstitions, and lightened the human burdens in many ways. But there their work ends. Science has yet to find out what the ancients really believed and taught in regard to their religion. When this is ascertained it must then see whether it is really true or not. Then alone will the opinion of modern science be entitled to respect.
It may be pointed out while I am still on the subject, that some of the inferences whereby science has arrived at the conclusion that there is no soul, are too wonderful for words. For instance, when science thinks that the history of evolution is preserved in the germ plasm and repeated in the case of every organism, it may, be enquired, whether this germ plasm is eternal which preserves the history of what took place millions of years ago, and of all the stages which themselves must have taken millions and millions of years from ameba to man? If not eternal, may me be told, in which part of matter is the history preserved, and who has preserved it, and how? Nature could not preserve anything without the instrumentality of a preserving agent. Is it not more rational to hold that the organism 'is' manufactured by the action of the soul's own vibrations impinging on the matter with which it is surrounded in the womb, and that the various forms are the outcome of only one form-making agency, namely, the soul as an embodied force, and that the stages which

Page #207

SUMMARY AND 'CONCLUSIONS
195
seem to embody the history of evolutionary processes are really caused by the different types of its vibrations, the higher involving all the lower ones within them, so that where vibratory energy is weak and stops short at the lowest stage an ameba will be formed, and on the highest rung a man. Reptiles, birds and mammals, all, thus, indicate only one fact, namely, the difference in the organising energy's sustentation, the higher stages being reached only after the lower ones have been touched. It seems to me that the facts are not capable of yielding the inference which has been drawn from them to bolster up the Darwinian theory, but support the view which has been enunciated here. The differences themselves arise from and are bound up in the quality and quantity of matter in union with the soul and are engendered by karmas.
Science also imagines that it has actually witnessed the phenomenon of the splitting up of consciousness. This must be a pure delusion. For crushed, mutilated, cut-off or split-up consciousness can only be non-sense; it cannot be that you can split up or destroy consciousness and still have it intact. Religion explains the phenomenon of the 80-called splitting up of consciousness by pointing to the existence of group-souls in certain low forms of organisms, 80 that when those organisms are cut up or split spontaneously, it is not the cutting up of a single soul into two, but some souls continue in both the parts, and explain the puzzling phenomenon by accounting for the consciousness in the two parts.
But is the Jaina. culture suitable for the modern world? Most certainly it is; the Jaina culture has always

Page #208

196
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
been suitable for all kinds of humanity; it will help every one! Jainism does not teach that you should mope and teep and put on sackcloth and ashes over your head; it does not even compel you to adopt any particular course of conduct at once or at any time. 'It simply asks you to study yourself, and if that study is properly made, it will stop there. It will only aid you in studying the subject and will not impose any further obligation on you. You yourself will in the fulness of time long for the salvation of your soul, when once you have understood the nature of things and the consequence of disregarding the teaching of Truth. If right belief and right knowledge are there, right conduct will arise itself sooner or later, according to the nature and degree of resistance it meets from the inimical forces of the flesh. Thus no one compels you to adopt any rules of conduct, in fact, no one even compels you to adopt any form of belief, for nobody can be forced into a particular belief, which will not remain there if it is merely forced on an unwilling mind. What Jainism does, therefore, is only this: it places before men its scientific teaching, invites them to study the subject, and leaves them there till such future time when they themselves seek further advice and assistance from it. It rests content in the assurance that life is eternal and that once an individual is rid of error and misapprehension, he will, in the fulness of time, surely tread the path that leads to light and the perfection and the joy of Gods. Even kings have renounced their thrones in the end to escape from perpetual torture in transmigration, by taking the shaping of their future destiny seriously in hand.

Page #209

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
197
The doctrine of universal love, termed Ahimsa, does not make cowards of men in any sense. All the Tirthamkaras were warriors, and were born in the warrior clans; several of Them made extensive conquests. Chandragupta, who defeated the Greek army in the B.C. days, was a Jain; Kharavela, who forced the King of Magadha (modern Patna) to seek truce, was a Jain; Amoghavarsha, who expanded the boundaries of his kingdom right and left, was a Jain. Many ruling kings, ministers and other high dignitaries in the past were Jains. Ahimsā (universal love) only means this: thou shalt not kill, without a just cause, man or any lower being, which means, thou shalt not kill for food, for sport, for fashion! As for food, vegetarianism proper vegetarianism, not the kind of vegetarianism which is being practised in India to-day, and which has been vitiated by excessive use of hot spices and curry and mango-pulphas proved and is further proving its supremacy in human diet. It at once furnishes 'wholesome, healthy, pure and soul-elevating food; no one is staryed by vegetarianism, no one is likely to lose weight or strength by the adoption of a dietary free from the use of fish, flesh or fowl. As for taste, vegetarian dishes are admired for their delicacy of flavour and taste by those who take them. But it is not only a question of taste with which 'we are concerned; the real problem is this: What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and be surrounded by all sorts of delights and delicacies that tickle the senses, but lose his own soul?
The difference between the Jaina culture and modern civilization is this:, in the former four ideals are kept in view, namely--dharma (soul's progress, that is

Page #210

198
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
secured by the householder's conduct), antha (wealth), kāma (pleasure) and mokșa (salvation); in the latter acquisition and fashion are the only ideals in, view! In modern times men and women are taught to make money and to enjoy themselves. What will happen to the soul? '--this is' rejected; there is no soul; be happy with a peaceful end in the grave! This is the end of the acquisition-and-fashion civilization! Under Jaina culture, men would be straightforward; under modern civilization, they are characterized with hypocrisy where real interests are concerned, though they may be quite frank and candid in small matters of ordinary daily life. Jainism will abolish wars; Jaina culture will establish harmony by removing disorder; it will make a discontented spirit contented and peaceful; it will bring peace and harmony to the home which is only too manifestly threatened by lack of domesticity and too much of the spirit of self-expression and selfdeterminism. Jainism will lead men and women to seek happiness within their natural spheres, thus banishing unemployment from men and unwomanliness from women. Jaina culture is necessary to curb down men's passions; modern civilization encourages their expression by laying stress on human emotions, and by depicting and painting them in alluring artistic settings. Modern science tolerates—I should rather say encouragesshooting, hunting, fishing, which imply great cruelty to our fellor living beings. Jaina culture would put a stop to this wanton cruelty. But what about the loss of human life from animals that will directly flow from the Jaina culture? And how about the swamping of the land by rabbits and bens if they are not eaten; will

Page #211

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
199
they not push man out of existence? Here is my answer to the first of these points; it comes from the Sunday Express, dated 20th April 1930. That paper points out that 5,678,631 casualties occurred in Great Britain since 1918 from industrial and traffic accidents alone; and the number of road fatalities for the year 1929 according to the same paper, dated 27th April 1930, for Great Britain is 6,696. What is the figure for the whole world for these years can be easily guessed. Surely, no wild animals ever killed as many men as the motor cars and mines are killing today! And as for the second point, India had been practically vegetarian for long millenniums before the Muhammadan advent, yet the Indians were not squeezed out of the country by rabbits and hens! It may be added that Jainism fully recognizes the right of the king to protect his subjects from attacks from wild beasts, and will not be opposed to their destruction to that extent.
It is well to recognize and it will do no good to kick against the pricks, that spirit is a substance and every soul has an unending future before it. It rests with us to make or mar that future. Meritorious living (ahimsā as qualified in the householder's stage)
ill lead to happy and prosperous conditions in the future rebirth. A life dedicated to himsā (cruelty,' lack of love) will lead to degradation and culminate in calamity in the future rebirths. But a more arduous lifé, aiming at the complete separation of spirit and matter, will lead to Nirvana.
How to modify modern civilization ? is one of the questions that naturally arises in this connection, and the answer is easy. Without going into details, I can

Page #212

200
"
say that modern civilization will be none the worse, and all the better, for giving up the use of fish, flesh, fowl and eggs; for keeping down the lust for thrills'; for placing limits upon the growing ceaseless whir of mechanized transport; for adopting a policy of 'live and let live'; and for refraining from sanctioning fashions which only beautify the outward encasement of matter, which is, in reality, the prison of the soul, but which involve real unbearable pain on those whose lives are taken for furnishing furs and plumes. And it will lose nothing by stopping shooting, hunting and fishing! Cinemas and theatres, instead of pandering to the insatiable thirst for thrills, may be utilized for the dramatization of such subjects as are elevating to the soul. Music and art may be improved by the giving up of the excessively high valuations placed upon the talents of men and women. Natural sciences will be taught, as they must be to enable humanity to retain its privilege of rationalism; but the Science of Salvation must be taught first of all. In a word, we shall leave out evil; retain the good. Let the spirit of right faith preside over the affairs of men, and we shall have a civilization which we may be proud of and which will pay us back in regard to peace and happiness and the progress of the soul infinitely more than we can calculate on paper.
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
It only remains to say with reference to the hidden sense of the scriptural text that the best method of getting at the significations of the allegorical scriptures, and especially of the teaching of the Bible, is to grasp the cumulative view-a bird's eye view of the system first of all. My advice to the reader is this: get hold
1

Page #213

201
of the complete chain in the first instance; do not quarrel over the links to begin with, for that will keep you from observing the exquisite beauty of the whole thing. When we have once observed the grandeur of the chain as a whole, it will be easy for us to test the strength and value of each link by itself. I do not deem it necessary to labour the point any further but am content to give the advice of Philo Judæus who is justly famous for preserving the secret interpretation of parts of the Old Testament.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
"Those who apply themselves to the study of the holy scriptures ought not to cavil and quibble at syllables, but ought first to look at the spirit and meaning of the nouns and verbs used, and at the occasions on which and the manners in which each expression is used; for it often happens that the same expressions are applied to different things at different times, and, on the contrary, opposite expressions are at different times applied to the same thing with perfect consistency."-Yonge's Philo Judeus, vol. iv. p. 253.
""
Those men act absurdly who judge of the whole from a part, instead of... forming their estimate of a part from their knowledge of the whole; . . . the divine code of laws is, in a manner, a united creature, which one must regard in all its parts and members at once with all one's eyes, and one must contemplate the meaning and sense of the whole scripture with accuracy and clearness, not distributing its harmony nor dissevering its unity; for the parts will have a very different appearance and character if they are once deprived of their union."-Ibid. vol. iv. p. 253.
1
The effect of the preaching of misunderstood religion is evident from the writings of the rationalists and free-thinkers, and amongst the books which give free expression to human thought concerning the teaching of Christianity, as it is preached by the Church today, may be mentioned " A Note-Book for Christians " by Charles T. Gorham, which contains a large number
$
"

Page #214

202
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
of outspoken criticisms by different men, some of whom are the leaders of the Church itself. I give only a few of them here:
" Scientific historical study makes it impossible to claim as serious history much of the strry of Christian origins which was for. merly so regarded. Whatever historical kernel may be thought to emerge 18 certainly inadequate to justify the claim that by itself it reveals completely the Divine will and authority."-Rev. J. S. Bezzant, “The Hibbert Journal" for July 1926, p. 620.
“ The Christianity which the Churches represent is sectarian and - exclusive; it is combined with superstition and with certain notable
perversions of the teaching of Jesus; it is united to false history and discredited science, and, worse still, to degrading views of God, and that too by the utterances of some of its most authoritative teachers potably by the doctrinal decrees of what Lord Macaulay has called
that august and fascinating superstition,' the Church of Rome."Rev. H. D. A. Major, “ Modern Churchman " for October 1928, p. 518.
"It 18 not primarily the scientists who have revolted against the ancient traditional scheme; it is those of us who feel that that scheme
(of orthodoxy) does outrage to the conception of God which we see in · Christ Jesus. The scheme has gone. Biology, psychology, textual criticism, the scientific study of bistory itself, have made havoc of it. It lies in ruins."-Canon C. E. Raren, " The Grounds of Christian Assumption," reported in "The Liverpool Echo " for January 4, 1929.
"... The Bible as a record of true historical documents 18 dethroned ... The antiquated theory of inspiration has gone; inspired prophecy is out of date: miracles (not the signs they once regarded) have gone; dogmas and creeds are in the melting pot ... The Church as an institution has lost its power," Professor J. F. Bethune Baker, "The Outline " for February 9, 1929.
“The history of the Christian religion ... is full of terrible blots : its Inquisitions, its persecutions, its religious tars, its ferocious intolerance, its blind obscurantism, its unconscious hypocrisy." Rer. H. D. A. Major, “English Modernism," p. 195.
“We have frankly abandoned the idea that the finality of the Christian religion can be proved by any scientific or historical

Page #215

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
203
method ... The attempt will always fail."-Rev. G. Galloway, "The Hibbert Journal" for April, 1925.
A
Some have even claimed, without knowing really the full extent of the intellectual attainments by the religious teachers of the past and of the difficulties which they encountered in explaining them to others, that they were intellectually inferior.
"The main tenets or doctrines of Christianity, as it even now exists, were formulated at a time when the intellectual atmosphere and the social conditions were entirely different from what they are now. By ecclesiastical authority they were fixed and imposed upon believers. Then they seemed perfectly natural and reasonable, in accordance with the facts of the world and with religious experience. They often made their way by their inherent reasonableness. But now they seem to us unreasonable, in contradiction to natural laws and to human nature."-Dr. Percy Gardner, "A Historic View of the New Testament," p. 27.
The Rev. J. Cranbrook (see "The Founders of Christianity," p. 109) tolls the death-knell of Christianity when he says:
66
Christianity comes before us with certain high pretensions which entirely and wholly rest upon alleged historical and literary facts. We look into the evidence of these facts. We find it totally insufficient to prove their reality. We therefore reject the pretensions... . Although Christianity, with all other forms of .. religion. must die, humanity lives on for ever."
But it is only the death of Churchianity; true Christianity remains unaffected. I should rather like to say, Hallelujah! Hosanna! in the highest! Gone are the errors of old, the splendour of Light has come, the Magi from the East, it is said, once came to proclaim a World-Redeemer; today comes the Light from the East to explain what a World-Redeemer can be! The Key of

Page #216

204
JAINISM, CHRIBTIANITY & SCIENCE
Knowledge was lost, it has been re-constructed anew! Life and joy are available all round. Let us rejoice in the death of falsehood and the birth of Truth. Churchianity is dead, eternally liveth the Science of Salvation !

Page #217

BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR STUDY
On Jainism:
1.
What is Jainism?
2.
Discourse Divine
3. Practical Dharma
4.
5. Sannyasa Dharma
6. Faith, Knowledge and Conduct 7. Jaina Psychology
1
...1
The Householder's Dharma
On Comparative Religion:
...
8. Science of Thought (Jaina Logic) 9. Jaina Law (annotated, and with a valuable introduction and appendix)
an
10. Atma Dharma
11. Jaina Penance
1. The Key of Knowledge
2. The Right Solution 3. The Confluence of Opposites
4. Atma Rāmāyana
English.
5. Jainism, Christianity and Science 6. Gow-bani (in Hindi)
12. Risabha Deva, the Founder of Jainism 13. The Paramatman Prakasha
...
...
...
...
...
ا. . .
:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
7. The Lifting of the Veil or the Gems of Islam (in Urdu).
...
8. The Lifting of the Veil (in English) in preparation
PRICE Sh. 3/6
-16
...
99
33
33
در
33
99
""
د.
›› 10/
-/6
3/6
6/6
3/
""
22
33
5/
1/
1/6
5/6
...
9. Glimpses of a Hidden Science in Original Christian Teachings
1/6
33
Note.-Except where otherwise indicated the above are all in
د.
:;:
225
21
1/
2/6
35
34
21
1/6
1/
16/6
-/4
3/6 1/6

Page #218

· 206
JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
To be had from (1) The Secretary, The Rişabha Jaina Lending
Library, 80, Gloucester Road, Warwick
Square, London, S.W.1. (2) The Hon. Secretary, The Digambara Jaina
Parishad Publishing House, Bijnor, U.P.
(India). (3) Mr. Rishabha Charan Jain, The Hindi Pustak
Karyalaya, 571, Pati Ram Street, Delhi
(India). (4) The Hon. Secretary, The Jaina Mitra Mandala,
Dareeba Kalan, Delhi (India).

Page #219
_