What is Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/006714/1

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With Compliments from Messrs. Kapoorchand Gulabchand Jains, Proprietors of Arts Palace, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi. WHAT IS JAINISM C. R. JAIN

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SOME OF THE LATEST OPINIONS Prof. D. B. MACDONALD (of Hurtford, Coun., U. S. America) "I know that I shall read your book (The Confluence of Opposites) with great interest." Dr. T. G. VAWDREY (London) "I have been reading some of your books on Jainism. In particular I wish to express my appreciation of The Key of Knowledge. I have found this book most interesting and instructive." Dr. T. W. THOMAS (Oxford) Sannyasa Dharma is a very full account of the ascetic life in full detail. I think that no one need ask for more help in regard to such matters, and the terminology is interesting... Your friendly attitude towards other religions seems to me highly creditable to your own." 66 Prof. HURST (S. Africa) "It (The Key of Knowledge) is extremely interesting. I am greatly interested in symbolism and he (the author) has some very profound and interesting explanations and meanings for various symbols....." Mrs. K. H. MITCHESON (S. Africa) 66 "... The Jaina Puja is very fine. I have already read enough of it to make me long for more." library.org

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ARTS PALACE, DELHI What some of its patrons write about the Arts' Palace. Mr. Charles Hayden of Hayden Stone Co., New York, "Dear Mr. Kapurchand Gulabchand, "You have the most interesting and choice collection of textiles, old Persian and Indian Paintings, Jade, Jewels and miscellaneous objects of Art, I have seen in India, and I have found it a pleasure to do business with you." (Sd.) CHARLES HAYDEN. 4-2-24 "Very content with things and prices ... bought Wood Carvings and Sculptures." (Sd.) SIEGBERT STERN of Berlin. 3-1-27 ".... immensely beautiful collection of jewels, velvets, brocades and carpets of rarest quality, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century things and at very reasonable price." (Sd.) JAMES F. BALLARD of St. Louis, U.S.A. 20-12-26 : "In real admiration the best collection in India." (Sd.) STLEA WATTS MUMFORD of New York. 20-2-25 " Interesting and excellent collection of lovely things." (Sd.) PAUL LENNON of New York. 9-3-25 "I think that this is a very artistic place and very honest." (Sa.) BORIS B. GORDON of California. 9-3-25 "Very exceptional things in this shop. It has been a pleasure to see them." (Sd.) Mrs. E. H. WILLIAMS, of San Diego, California. 4-2-24

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Names of some of the Eminent Visitors who patronise Arts Palace. Viceregal Lodge, Delhi & London. Flag Staff House, Delhi & London. Bombay. Calcutta & London. and London. Lady Reading Lady Rawlinson Lady Wilson Lady Lytton Lord and Lady Inchcape Miss Elsie Mackay ... Mr. J. H. Morgan ... Mrs. N. N. Coolidge ... Count & Countess De Madre Miss Alice De La Mar ... Mr. & Mrs. George Cordingly Mrs. Tuckerman New York Boston, Mass. Paris. New York. San Francisco. Boston, U.S.A Mrs. Moses Taylor New York. New York, Tannessee. Mr. Mrs. & Miss Pratt ... Mrs. B. F. Thomas Mr. Arthur Lehman ... Mr. & Mrs. Herman A. Metz Mrs. Fish New York, New York. New York, Col. & Mrs. Morse New York, Mr. Samuel Untermyer Mr. H. R. Winthrop ... Mrs. Burt Addy Taylor Mr. & Mrs. George D. Widener ... Mr. & Mrs. A. T. Marcuse Mr. & Mrs. Jackling ... Mr. A. H. Hutchinson... Mrs. Duncan S. Ellsworth Mr. & Mrs. John Maghy New York. New York. Detroit, Mich. Philadelphia. New York. New York. New York New York. New Yo.rk

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ESSAYS & ADDRESSES C. R. JAIN, Vidya-varidhi, Barrister-at-Law

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

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT Grateful acknowledgment is due to Messrs. Kapoorchand" Gulabchand Jains of Arts Palace, Delhi, for their generously undertaking to meet the entire cost of the publication of a thousand copies of the book, which, but for their suggestion, might not have appeared in the present form for some time to come. C. R. J.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 100 103 SUBJECTS 1. What is Jainism 2. Sacred Philosophy ... 3. The Jaina Doctrine ... 4. Jainism will stop Wars 5. Religion and Comparative Religion 6. The Right Solution ... 7. Psychology with a Soul 8. Syadvada 9. The Origin of Jainism 10. Two Misconceptions ... 11. Dogs with Wings ... 12. Advice to Young Jainas 13. A Peep Behind the Veil of Karma 14. The Gospel of Immortality and Joy 15. "Bharat ka Etihas" 16. Society and Reform ... ... 17. Ahimsa ... 18. Separation of Spirit and Matter 19. The Crown of Success 20. The Jaina Theory of Karma 21. Instinct (Sanjna) ... 22. The System of Syadvada 23. The Rhythm of Joy 106 110 123 130 135 147 156 167 169 182 187 194

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES WHAT IS JAINISM ? TAINISM is a science, and not a code of arbitrary rules and capricious commandments. It does not claim to derive its authority from any non-human source, but is, science-like, founded on the knowledge of those Great Ones who have attained perfection with its aid. Scientific validity can be claimed neither by dogmatism nor mysticism; and it is unnecessary to add that nothing but science or scientific thought can be relied upon to produce immediate, certain and unvarying results. To understand Jainism, it is first of all necessary to understand the nature of Religion which people vaguely talk about, and which is still more vaguely preached to them from the pulpits of the numerous creeds which are flourishing in our midst in this age. Briefly put, Religion is the path of liberation from the suffering and pain which is the lot of beings in samsara (transmigration). All living beings --men, animals, and the like-only seek happiness in all things and pursuits; there is no one who does not hanker after eternal life and blissfulness in some form or other. Religion claims to be the science which enables the soul to realise the immortality and bliss for which it is hankering. Most of the religions of the world, however, have only dogma and myth to offer, in place of the scientific thought, which alone can satisfy the demands of reason, and from which alone can flow the desired good, under all circumstances. Jainism differs from all other religions, in so far as it is a perfectly accurate, definite and exact science, free from misty and mystic ritual, unholy superstition and fear-engendering devotion. It does not ask its devotee to accept its teaching on the authority of anything other than Reason, and invites all to understand the nature of the subject before pinning their faith on it.

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2 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES To begin with, Jainism explains the nature of happiness which all are athirst for. It is obvious that the sensual pleasures do not satisfy the soul, however much they might tickle the senses for the time being. Sensual pleasure is essentially impermanent, depends on the contact with other things and bodies, involves trouble and pain in its obtainment, creates worry and uneasiness after its experience, leads to strife with those who happen to be engaged in the pursuit of the same object, and gives rise to misery in old age and on the impairment of the senses on which alone its enjoyment depends. No one who has analysed his ideas can possibly find anything in common between the ideal of happiness which he seeks and the sensual gratification described above. What one really wants is the happiness which the Gods enjoy undying, unabating, soul-enrapturing happiness- not the temporary gratification of lust, but the exhilarating rhythm of ecstasy, delight or bliss, whatever it might be called. This ecstatic delight which is neither evanescent nor the source of sorrow and pain, like the gratification of sensual lust, is really the nature of the soul, though through ignorance it is unaware of the fact. The proof of this is to be found in the fact that the pleasure one experiences on the successful performance of some task comes from within and is independent of the senses. Analysis reveals the fact that the essence of this kind of happiness lies in the notion of freedom, so that whenever the soul is freed from some irksome duty, obligation or restraint and all kinds of activities except the unrestrained 'pulsation' of freedom are only the different forms of bondage-its natural delight (from de, intense, and light, lightness), hence freedom, at once manifests itself. The soul is the rhythm of free activity of the selfconscious force, the living essence or 'will-to-be,' and feels dull and heavy when burdened with external and unnatural tasks and obligations. Hence the removal of its obligations and restraints re-establishes its pure rhythm of intense lightness, that is, freedom, and enables it to enjoy its svabhavic ananda (bliss). It follows from this that when all its obligations and tasks are removed, the soul must necessarily experience the purest kind of delight, which, being svabhavic (pertaining to its own nature), can have no ending.

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WHAT IS JAINISM What prevents the soul from the enjoyment of its natural joy is ignorance. Hardly one man in a thousand has any idea of the nature of pure joy, and all, more or less, try to extract it from their surroundings, which are, by nature, utterly incapable of yielding it. Yet if they will only analyse their feelings, they will not fail to observe that the moments of true happiness are only the moments of true freedom. Ignorance of the natural joy of the soul, then, is the cause which stands between it and happiness. Hence, knowledge is necessarily the road to bliss. The kind of knowledge which leads to joy is more comprehensive and perfect than that which is imparted in modern schools and colleges. It is the knowledge of the nature of substances and the forces of nature which rob the soul of its rhythm of freedom and of those which re-establish it therein. All other kinds of knowledge may be necessary for the man of the world, but are useless to the soul seeking perfection, i.e., immortality and bliss. There are seven essential objects of knowledge called tattvas, These are: (1) the living or conscious substance, i.e., the soul; (2) the non-living, i.e., the unconscious substance; (3) cisrava, i.e., inflow of matter into the soul; (4) bandha, i.e., bondage; (5) samvara, or the checking of the inflow, that is, asrava; (6) nirjara, the removal of matter from the soul ; and (7) moksha, i.e., freedom. We shall take up each of these seven tattvas separately, and shall deal with them briefly. (1) Soul is the living substance, and is pure consciousness in essence; it is not the product of matter in any sense. It is by nature all-knowing and blissful, and is endowed with untiring, inexhaustible and unending energy. All substances are eternal, and the soul is no exception to the rule. It is amurtik, that is, not possessed of sensible qualities; hence it cannot be perceived by the senses, though it is not actually formless, since all things which exist must have some sort of form. Souls have existed contaminated with matter from beginninglessness, and are consequently unable to enjoy their svabhavic attributes omniscience, bliss and the like. The practising of the rules of Right Conduct, however, enables one to remove the impurities which obstruct the thrice-blessed qualities of the soul, the four principal ones of which are collectively called the ananta chatushtuyal (infinity quartette).

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES namely, infinite perception, infinite knowledge, infinite bliss and infinite power. (2) The non-living substances comprise pudgala, that is, matter, time, space, dharma and adharma. Jainism maintains that no worldprocess, or evolution, is possible in the absence of any one or more of these five non-soul (ajiva) substances and spirits (souls). Space is necessary for localization, time for continuity and succession, dharma and adharma for motion and rest respectively, matter for supplying the material of bodies, and souls for life, knowledge and enjoyment. These six substances and their nature have been fully dealt with by Jaina philosophers, and, therefore, it is not necessary to explain them at length here. (3) The third tattva is asrava, which signifies the influx of karmic matter into the soul. In consequence of its activities, the soul attracts to itself particles of matter which under the influence of its passions combine with it, thereby crippling its natural functions and constituting its bondage. Jainism maintains that the soul is eternal, and has been undergoing transmigration during the entire beginningless eternity of the past, on account of the karmic forces with which it is enmeshed. The karmic bandhas (bonds of karmas) are forged by the fusion of spirit and matter, and rob the soul of its natural perfection and freedom. A fettered' soul, thus, resembles a bird whose wings have been sewn up to prevent its flying away. The soul free by nature, like the bird, but, owing to the association of matter, feels as if its wings had been cut, and cannot enjoy its natural freedom and joy. (4) Bandha is the state of bondage of the soul as already explained. There are many kinds of bonds which have to be broken before nirvana can be attained. (5) The next tattva is samvara, the process of checking the influx of karmic matter into the 'constitution' of the soul. Obviously, freedom cannot be had so long as the bondage of the soul is not terminated by the removal of the particles of matter of which its karmic bonds are forged. The first step towards this end is the checking of the further influx of matter which ceaselessly flows into the constitution of the soul. 4

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WHAT IS JAINISM (6) The inflow of fresh matter being checked, the next step is to remove the bonds one by one. This is called nirjara. When all the bonds are broken asunder, and the soul is freed from all its crippling relations with matter, it enjoys its natural freedom and bliss and omniscience. (7) The seventh and the last tattva is naturally the ideal of perfection, that is, freedom, immortality and bliss, which the soul attains to on freeing itself from all its bonds. Such is the nature of the essential principles or tattvas. To recapitulate briefly, Jainism maintains that all living beings in the universe are conscious entities possessed of fulness and perfection and capable of manifesting them by self-exertion in the right direction. Their natural perfection, which includes immortality, omniscience, infinite energy and infinite bliss, is marred by the operation of their own karmas, that is, of the different kinds of forces engendered in the soul in conjunction with matter by its own actions. Hence, all that the soul has to do is to check the further influx of karmic matter, and to destroy its bonds. The moment this can be done its svabhavic perfection will be attained, and freedom, immortality and bliss enjoyed. There is no question of begging or bargaining with any one in this system, and it is noteworthy that it is absolutely impossible for any outside agency to confer either the immortality, the bliss, or the perfection which the soul is hankering after, and ceaselessly tries to obtain from its surroundings. The whole thing is a question of the law of causes and effects. Jainism does not, for the foregoing reason, offer devotion to any being or beings in the hope of obtaining bliss, immortality or perfection from them. These are already the natural properties of the soul, and cannot possibly be had from outside. Hence Jainism does not recognize the God of popular theology, but urges the aspirant soul to worship the feet of the Perfected Siddhas in the same way as one would show reverence to a teacher. The greatest Teacher is certainly entitled to the greatest amount of reverence, and no teacher can certainly be greater than the Omniscient Tirthamkaras who not only knew all things, but the perfection of whose knowledge is also fully demonstrated by the fact that it enabled Them to attain the fullest degree of perfection.

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Such is the main teaching of Jainism, and it is obvious that it has nothing in common with any of those systems of religion which engender or encourage superstition. The path to nirvana, according to Jainism, consists in Right Belief, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct. On its practical side, Jainism is fully calculated to enable every one however lowly, or vicious, to attain to the highest Ideal. It at once converts a vicious doer of evil into a respected citizen ; changes the latter into a saint, and later transforms the saint himself into a God ! In the daily duties of a Jaina layman stress is laid on self-denial, study and the giving of suitable gifts of food, medicine, education, and protection to the persecuted. The saint cultivates active love for all living beings, and controls his activities in all respects, that is, mental, physical and vocal, to avoid causing harm to any one, including even small insects and the lowly ant. It only remains to consider the influence of Jainism on civilization. Some people seem to possess what may be described as an unholy dread of religion on the ground that it would be destructive of civilization. This fear is, however, quite unfounded, and confined to those who have no idea of the great Ideal of the soul, and whose conception of being does not embrace the life beyond the grave. Let us not confound civilization with sensualism, refined or gross. The true significance of civilization means nothing if not the culture of the soul, on lines which are compatible with its steady progress both here and in the life or lives after death. Sensualism, however much it might be refined, is only calculated to destroy the finer instincts of the soul. making it negative, and consequently foredooming it to the torments of hell and future undesirable incarnations, as brutes and beasts. The ancients were by no means deficient in the knowledge of things and sciences which have contributed towards the building up of what we boast of as our modern civilization, but they also knew that the things which appeal to the senses only lead to the degeneration of the soul, and wisely refrained from cultivating, beyond certain useful limits, the arts and sciences which tend to fatten the body at the cost of the spiritual nourishment of the soul. The one most marked feature of distinction between man and

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WHAT IS JAINISM 7 animal is the thinking capacity, which the former is endowed with and may develop to perfection and from which the latter is largely debarred. Hence, while an animal has little or no chance of bettering its condition in its present form, man may and ought to avail himself of the opportunity, if he would avoid pain and suffering here and hereafter. The civilization which enables him to do so speedily is the only form of culture of which Reason can approve, not the civilization which invites him to the fold of sensualism, but another, though less repulsive, name for animalism. The one most prominent feature of the modern civilization is the cost of living which is going up from day to day and which entails the devotion of whole-time labour for the procuring of the means of livelihood and those other things which are necessary to enable one to be counted as a somebody "in society. This leaves no time for spiritual unfoldment, which itself demands the withdrawal of the outgoing energy and its inner concentration for the destruction of the karmic bonds. C The civilization of the ancients, on the contrary, never lost sight of the necessity for the spiritual evolution of the soul, and made the cost of living so cheap that every one could procure the necessaries of life without much trouble or labour, utilising every moment of valuable time for devotion to God, i.e., the Ideal of Perfection and Bliss. Jainism prescribes two kinds of rules of conduct for the souls which aspire to attain salvation, those becoming a muni (an ascetic) and those suitable for the Page #18
SACRED PHILOSOPHY zrI paramAtmane namaH LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, The subject of my discourse before you to-day is the Jaina Siddhanta. The term Jaina Siddhinta is expressive of the Jaina view of things, and stands for the ultimate conclusions that have been accepted by my co-religionists, the Jainas. According to Jainas, philosophy and rational thought are wedded together indissolubly, so that the divorcing of the one from the other would be fatal to both. For rational thought must tend towards the comprehensive consistency of a systematic science to rise above the petty trivialities of the world, and philosophy must adhere closely to the rigid rationalism of nature to secure the generally neglected harmony between imagination and actuality or fact. This is destructive of the view of those who employ their reason solely to build up metaphysical props for their own notions as well as of those who allow themselves to be exclusively engaged in devising argumentative support for their scriptures. For, if the individual bias is allowed, from the very start, to sway the reason in favour of one particular system, and, therefore necessarily against all the rest, how shall choice be made between the scripture or system of truth and that which is corrupt and false. For the same reason intuition has to be left out of account, till at least such time as a teacher is discovered whose intuitive wisdom can be relied upon as sound and free from error and flaws of any kind whatsoever. It is obvious that if private intuitions be allowed to sway philosophical investigation, every lunatic will have a right to fill the chair of philosophy and every morbid subject of hysteria and hallucination to rank as a patron of science and metaphysics. We may, then, define philosophy as the process or expression of reflection on the facts of experience, culminating in an all-comprehensive consistent system of thought that is explanatory of the nature -of our surroundings, and, therefore, capable of being harnessed into

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY service for the obtainment of the highest good. Here we may be seen to part company from those who would dabble in metaphysics as a mere scholarly pastime or for its own sake, as they put it. As is well-known to scholars, this practical utility of philosophy has not been kept in view in the Western systems, and one cannot but notice the deprecatory tone for the opposite view in the following passage from the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Vol. ix, pp. 846-47, under the heading "Philosophy"): " Philosophical enquiry was not a purely scientific matter in India. The knowledge of the nature of things was aimed at, not for its own sake, but for a practical purpose. It was regarded as a factor in the great work of deliverance from Transmigration." 9. Curiously enough, another writer defines philosophy in the earlier part of the same article (p. 846) as "the process or expression of rational reflexion upon experience," thus recognising its close affinity with actuality and observation, hence with experiment and science. But if philosophy is so closely affiliated to science, it can never be impractical, since the hall-mark of every true science consists in nothing other than utility, hence, practicability. To put the same thing in different words, since philosophy is defined as the process or expression of rational reflexion upon experience, it must always remain in the closest touch with experience, and therefore with the practical side of life, what is termed experience being, in reality, nothing but the actual knowledge gained by personal test, trial or proof. Such is the position of Jainism with respect to philosophy. The very first verse of the Jaina Bible, otherwise known as the Tattvartha Sutra, insists on the harnessing of Right Knowledge along with Right Faith and Right Conduct for the attainment of what I have described here as the highest good. Our conclusion, then, is that philosophy when divorced from practical utility is like a rotting carcass, offensive, inert, insensible and useless. We must now actually set out on a philosophical enquiry. Of course, the one burning question is: what is this world we perceive and live in? But the form that it generally takes with the non-Jainas is whence is the world? by whom was it made? and :

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10 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES when? The Jainas object to these questions, as they are liable to cause confusion of thought and to confound the real point. The proper question is truly only : what is this world ? The investigator in put. ting the question about a beginning parts company from actuality, and starts from a point which has never been experienced by himself or by any one else ; for no one has ever seen the beginning of the world, nor is it even a possibility of mental conception, since he who will conceive it will have to get rid of the existing actuality, namely, concrete nature, before he can place himself at a point in the current of time in the past when the world was still to be born. Let a man try to do this in thought and he will soon perceive that it is simply impossible to conceive of any rational method with which to effect the total disappearance or destruction of that which is a reality of existence to-day. And if it is impossible to think that this world can ever be totally destroyed in the future, it must be equally impossible to think that it could have ever been destroyed in the past. In different language, the world we live in and perceive must have existed yesterday as fully as it exists to-day, and also, and in the same manner, and for the same reasons, the day before yesterday, the day before that, and so on and so forth, till we find ourselves plunged into the bewildering domain of what is implied in the infinity of time that is known as the past. The conclusion we arrive at, then, is that there never was a moment of time in the past when the world might be said to have had no existence; that is to say, in different words, that the universe we live in is eternal. The question, Who made it ?,' then, is one which never can arise in rational metaphysics. The next question is, what does this eternity of the world signify, since we perceive changes going on all round us? It was this aspect of things which led Buddha to regard all things, without an exception, as evanescent and impermanent. But it is obvious that a notion like this can never find support in science or philosophy, inasmuch as the law of conservation of matter and energy which has been very accurately determined by modern Physics is there to demonstrate its falsehood. Substance for this reason has to be defined as a permanent subject of changing

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY 11 accidents or modes. The Imperial Dictionary defines it in the following words : "In philosophy that which underlies or is the permanent subject or cause of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual; the subject which we imagine t lie the attributes or qualities by which alone we are conscious of existences, that which exists independently and unchangeably, in contradistinction to accident, which denotes any of the changeable phenomena in substance, whether these phenomena are necessary or causal, in which latter case they are called accidents in a narrower sense, The relation of accident to substance is called the relation of inherence, and corresponds to the logical relation of subject and predicates, because the substance is the subject to which are assigned the qualities, states and relations as predicates; substance itself is the essence which is capable of these phenomena, and, in spite of these changes, remains the same. Substance is, with respect to the mind, a merely logical distinction from its attributes. We can never imagine it, but we are compelled to assume it. We cannot conceive substance shorn of its attributes, because those attributes are the sole staple of our conceptions; but we must assume that substance is something different from its attributes. Substance is the unknown, unknowable substratum on which rests all that we experience of the external world." This is almost word for word the view of the Jaina Siddhuinta, which defines substance as that which is characterised by origination, destruction and continuance at one and the same time. For instance, when we melt a bar of gold there is the origination of the molten state, the destruction of the " barness," and underlying them both, the continuity of gold as gold. Nor can we regard the destruction of the bar and the origination of the resultant molten liquidity as being successive events in time ; for no substance can be imagined without a form, and yet the piece of gold in the crucible can have no form, on the supposition, in the interval after the destruction of the solid form and before the manifestation or assumption of the liquid state. To put the same argument in a different form, if the destruction of 'bar-ness' is not simultaneous with the origination of the liquid state, the bar will be destroyed first and its melting, i.e., the assumption of the liquid form, will take place afterwards. But this is absurd, for gold must exist in some form in the interval, and the supposition leaves it altogether without one. This shows that liquefaction is the very form of the destruction of 'bar-ness: so that the destruction of an existing state and the origination of

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12 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES the immediately succeeding one cannot but occur at one and the same time. This is sufficient to dispose of Kshanik-vada, i.e., the philosophy which denies the permanence of substances. With reference to the notion that the world was made by a creator, it will be observed that substances are only bundles of qualities by means of which alone we are conscious of their existence. For instance, gold has materiality, brightness, softness, yellowness. etc., etc., for its attributes, and all our knowledge concerning its nature is simply the sum-total of all its attributes. This amounts to saying that qualities inhere in substances, which, as stated above, are but bundles of attributes. Now, with reference to the hypothesis of creation, we have already seen that substances are eternal and uncreate, so that no one can be said to be their author. This narrows down the field of enquiry to the question : whether any one does or ever did manufacture the world from these substances ? But before we hold that a living being is the maker of this world, it is necessary to establish the physical contact between him and the material which he may be said to have moulded into a cosmos. It must also be shown that the substances in nature did not perform their appropriate function prior to the making of the world. The physical contact between the maker and the raw material of the world is necessary, because nowhere in nature do we observe a potter succeeding in the making of a pot unless he can physically operate upon the lump of clay which is to assume the desired shape in his hand. Now, according to all the systems of theology prevalent in our midst to-day, the supposed maker of our world is pure Effulgence, having neither hands nor feet, so that it is impossible for such a being to directly operate upon any material. This should ordinarily be sufficient to dispose of the matter, but prejudice is not so easily satisfied. We shall now be told that at a word of command--a sort of creative fiat-of this world-architect things began to shape themselves and assumed the forms he desired them to take. Observation, however, belies even this assumption ; for nowhere in nature do we find a case of unintelligent raw material obeying the command of a manufacturer. I may fret and foam and command as loudly as I am capable of doing, but it is certain that

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY 13 the papers lying before me on the table will not budge a hair's breadth from their places unless I put myself in a position to deal with them physically in some way, whether directly with the hands, or indirectly, through some visible or invisible mechanism. It is thus clear that no one could have ever made the world by a mere word of command. As for the second point, i.e., the non-functioning of substances prior to the making of the world, it is obvious that things cannot be imagined as lying altogether functionless prior to the commencement of the process of manufacturing. As said in the Practical Path : "Theology, no doubt, holds that the world-process is maintained by the word of its god without whose command nothing whatsoever can ever take place in the universe; but then theology has no reply to give to the question: why should things be endowed with different attributes if they can function only in obedience to the word of a god? If we do not deceive ourselves with false conclusions, we should observe that different substances exercise different functions, so that none of them can perform the function of another. If it were otherwise, water might be imagined to perform the function of fire, fire of air, air of consciousness, and so forth. But the supposition is so highly absurd that no sane mind has ever considered it possible. We must, then, assume that each substance has its own special function which cannot be performed by anything else. But what is function, if not the particular mode of existence of a substance? This amounts to saying that no substance can exist if its function be annihilated even for a moment, e.g., fire would cease to be fire the moment it ceased to perform its specific function of burning and the production of heat. Now, the supposition that the substances of nature stand in need of the command of a god to perform their function is possible only on the assumption that they do not function except when ordered to do so by him. But this is a clear case of impossibility, for a substance cannot both exist and not exist at the same time, its function being only the particular mode or manner of its existence. It follows, therefore, that no one can possibly interfere with the function of existing substances." We thus conclude that the functioning of substances is due to their own nature and not the outcome of any one's order or decree. If we do not allow our preconceived notions to shut us out of truth, we shall observe that the natural law, by which term is meant the unvarying orderliness and regularity of causation of natural events arising from the attributes, properties and functions of substances, suffices for the world-process, so that the supposition of a creative fiat to explain the starting point of an imaginary beginning of things is

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES clearly a purely gratuitous assumption. The argument that the observ ed general harmony of nature, especially of organs and limbs, eg... the co-ordination between the functions of the mouth and the stomach in the mastication and digestion of food, furnish evidence of design and prove the existence of a world-maker, is easily met; for, in the absence of hands in the supposed author of things, things must have had to form themselves. This is tantamount to saying that the substances of nature are endowed with a capacity to assume appropriate forms by virtue of their inherent physical and chemical properties. It is clear that the food which is converted into the flesh, blood, bones, saliva, faeces and the like, is not so transformed by a god getting into the human or animal stomach and there changing its contents into so many different things, but in consequence of the chemical action of the secretions of the organs of digestion on the ingredients of the meal. The dignity of a god, it will be further seen, is not enhanced by being regarded as the maker of all sorts of things, including such unsightly filthy ones as saliva, faeces and the like, so that it is nothing short of blasphemy to ascribe the authorship of the world to one whom we are ready to acknowledge as a living embodiment of pure, perfect holiness. We thus find ourselves left with the eternal substances of nature, which with their different properties, suffice to account for the world-process. As regards the enumeration of these substances, Jainism has it that there are two main kinds of substance, jiva and ajiva, the former signifying that which is endowed with life and the latter, its opposite, the non-living. In modern thought, spirit and non-spirit would be fair equivalents of these terms. Of these, the class non-spirit itself comprises no less than five different substances, namely, matter (termed pudgala in the Jaina terminology), Space, Time and two special kinds of ether, the func tions of which are to be helpful in the motion and cessation of motion, respectively, of moving things. We thus have six substances in nature, namely, Spirit, Matter, Time, Space, and the two Ethers. As for the proof of their existence, modern science recognises matter and one kind of ether, but has no definite notion about Time and Space, and is still, on the whole, inclined to deny, or at least reluctant to acknowledge jiva as a kind of substance by itself. It is not my 14

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY 15 purpose here, nor does time permit me at present, to enter into an examination of all these substances, and I am content to refer you to the work of the great Jaina acharyas who have dealt with the subject at length. Those of you who know English will also find it dealt with in my work on comparative religion entitled the Key of Knowledge. I, however, propose to examine here the nature of spirit and shall also briefly deal with matter, since these are the two main things the knowledge of whose properties is essential to a thorough understanding of the Jaina Siddh inta, which, as will become clear by and by, is but another term for Religion proper. To begin with, spirit, the living substance or jiva (lit. that which is alive), is characterised by awareness, that is, knowledge and perception. It is different from matter and is not matter, though under certain conditions it is liable to becoming mixed or fused with that substance. When existing in combination with matter it is regarded as asuddha (impure); and this is the condition of all the souls that have not yet attained nirvana, that is to say, of those that are still involved in transmigration. This is tantamount to saying that when souls become pure, i.e., separated from matter, they obtain nirvana. Pure spirit is omniscient, blissful and immortal by nature. As such, it is termed Paramatman (God); and every soul has the capacity to become a God by purifying itself. The aim of Religion is to enable the soul to attain to Godhood and to obtain everlasting bliss. This, briefly, is the description of Spirit in the Jaina Siddhinta. Modern science, however, denies the very existence of Spirit as a substance, holding knowledge and perception to be the outcome of special groupings of atoms of matter. The very first question before us now, therefore, is whether consciousness, that is, the faculty of knowledge and perception, appertains to matter or is something different from it ? Now, a great deal has been written on the subject by all sorts of writers in modern times, but unfortunately most of it is not to the point. So far as materialistic writers are concerned, they seem to hold that consciousness is either produced by the brain of man and certain other highly developed animals, or is the intensification of a primitive form of sensation with which they regard matter to

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16 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES be endowed. But neither of these views is sound philosophically, as will appear from an analysis of the functions of consciousness. The first hypothesis is contradicted by the fact of logical inference which will be impossible on the supposition of consciousness being a function, not of a simple entity, but of a composite substance, consisting of separate and separable parts, such as the human brain. It will be seen that logical inference is possible only where the conclusion is to be drawn by the same mind, or conscious unit, as is in possession of the premises from which it is to be drawn; not otherwise; for if one consciousness" be only aware of one premise and a different one of the other premise, then neither of them nor any other can draw any inference from them whatsoever. Similarly, if one part of the brain be possessed of one premise and another part, of the other one, it will be impossible for a conclusion to be drawn from them. (6 Now, since the mind is capable of drawing a logical conclusion, it must be that there is a conscious unit somewhere in it or in association with it. But as the brain is only composed of atoms of matter on the materialistic hypothesis, the idea of a conscious unit with reference to it cannot be extended beyond the four corners of a solitary atom; for nothing but an atom is capable of being described as not consisting of parts in the domain of matter. Consciousness thus ceases to be a function of the brain, and becomes the property of atomic matter. But this is really the second of the two hypotheses advanced by the modern materialist to account for consciousness. As for the merit of this hypothesis, there is absolutely nothing in the facts of observation to support it, beyond two things, namely, firstly, that matter is known to affect the manifestation of consciousness, and, secondly, that all beings are not endowed with the same kind of mental powers. These facts do not, however, establish anything more than this that the degree of conscious manifestation in unemancipated souls depends on the quality or quantity or both of matter which may be existing in combination with the soul. The materialist's conclusion-that the dependence of consciousness on matter demonstrates the non-existence of the soul-could be reached only if it were postulated as a fact that the soul was not liable

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY 17 to be affected by matter. As Jainism points out, the differences in the degree of conscious manifestation among different orders of beings as well as the liability of an unemancipated soul to be affected by matter are due to the force known as Jnanavarniya Karma, which means a definite group of forces that tend to curtail the knowing faculties of the soul. Jainism also points out that these knowledgeobstructing forces are generated by the fusion of spirit and matter, both of which are real substances, as stated before. The supposition that there can be no soul unless it remain in one and the same condition under all circumstances is childish, and has never been advanced by true philosophy. We thus find nothing in these facts of observation which may be said to be inconsistent with the spiritual hypothesis. On the contrary, it is evident that materialism has failed to understand the nature of consciousness which it has hastily declared to be the fundamental property of an atom of matter. For neither the phenomena of higher consciousness nor the supernormal faculties of clairvoyance and the like can be conceived as having sprung from a primitive nucleus in an atom of matter. We cannot regard these higher manifestations as purely magnified versions of the supposed atomic consciousness. They differ both with respect to quality as well as quantity; and the differences are such as cannot possibly be regarded as due to augmentation or intensification of the original nucleus. The most pronounced materialists have not associated atomic sensitiveness with either smell or sight or hearing, and the wildest conjecture fails to guess how these faculties could arise by mere augmentation or magnifying of the barest susceptibility to sensations of touch which is all that the atomic consciousness is supposed to be capable of. There is not an iota of evidence to support the proposition that internal qualitative changes can be wrought by mere increase of intensity or bulk, or even by external quantitative arrangements or regroupings of individuals or units of a given substance. To bring about such qualitative changes two or more substances or things with different* properties will have to be combined and compounded * It is not to be supposed that the case of the four natural elements, fire, water and the like, constitutes an exception to this rule, for while it is true that all atoms are alike in respect of their general qualities as matter, they are not alike with 2

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18 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES together, or those existing in combinations separated. But it is not stated that the primitive conscious nucleus or soul bound up in one atom of matter is different from that in another, so that on the supposition of the groupings of atoms we have a simple case of augmentation, which, as stated before, is insufficient and inadequate to account for the facts and functions of the higher forms of consciousness. As the internal nature of a drop of water is not altered by its being merged in a large mass of other similar drops, so is not the alteration of nature and function conceivable for crude atomic' souls' by intensification. This is sufficient to dispose of the absurd thesis that consciousness is produced from atoms of matter. The independence of the soul from matter is evident from the nature of memory, which certainly cannot be a function of what is itself created or secreted afresh, every moment, after the supposed manner of our consciousness arising from the secretions of a changing perishable brain. A substratum of individuality* which endures in time is absolutely essential for recollection, and no amount of secretions from learned or primitive brains can ever take the place of such an individuality. We shall advance only one more argument to show that the soul cannot be an attribute or specific property of an atom of matter or the secretion of the physical brain. This argument is respect to their chemical and other kinds of specific properties-colour and the likeas atoms. The elements are thus composed of different kinds of atoms and cannot be said to be the resultant of a pure process of augmentation or intensification of a single property or attribute. * The individuality of the soul is not affected by the fact that there are to be found more living beings than one in certain organisms in nature. As Jainism points out, there are two kinds of organisms, namely, firstly, those that are inhabited by one soul each, and, secondly, those that resemble a colony of souls. teristic of the latter is that they generally have a common mouth and share certain other organs of their bodies in common, but are otherwise separate and distinct from each other. They certainly do not combine to form one soul by intensification or any other process or method; and the destruction of one or more of them does not mean the destruction of them all. They are like the Hungarian twins, one of whom died without in any way affecting the individuality of the surviving sister, although the latter must have suffered grievously, in mind and body both, from the demise of one so closely and literally affiliated to her as to share her lower limbs.

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY 19 furnished by the fact that the soul pervades the physical body in its entirety. Now, if the soul did not pervade its body in its entirety, it would be confined to some specific place; but in that case it would not be able to feel pleasant and unpleasant bodily affections in those parts and limbs of its physical incasement which were not pervaded by it. The supposition that a sensory message is received by the soul from the seat of the trouble is untrue, inasmuch as there can be no feeling of pleasure or pain in that case. For just asit is impossible for a man, who hears that his house is set on fire, to experience the actual sensation of burning, however distressing the piece of information might otherwise prove to be, so is it not possible for the soul to experience aught but purely mental distress on the receipt of a message of pain from a place where it is not. And, lastly, even assuming that physical pain could be caused by the message received, then the painful feeling would be confined to the substance of the soul itself, and, therefore, necessarily to the cavity of the heart or wherever else the soul might be located. But since this is not the case, we must assume that the soul pervades its body in its entirety. It hardly needs any argument from me to convince you that a soul which is confined within the four corners of a tiny microscopical atom or to the physical matter of the brain cannot be regarded as pervading the whole body. The fact is that spirit is a substance by itself, though of a different kind from matter. Observation shows how it is affected by matter (e.g., increase of animation and consciousness by the use of such things as musk and coffee), and how, in its own turn, it is capable of affecting matter and conditions dependent on it, as the curing of disease by purely mental suggestion or will power. As for consciousness, it is an inalienable property of spirit, though liable to be affected by matter, as already observed. This is tantamount to saying that knowledge is the very nature of spirit (jiva). If any one will put to himself the simple question: what is knowledge? he will readily agree with me that there can be no knowledge apart from or independently of a knowing being. For knowledge is not a reflection of an object in consciousness, like a reflection in a mirror, nor anything other than a sense of awareness, which may be occasioned by the

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20 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES instrumentality of an external object, but which is totally different from all objects of knowledge or their reflections in the ordinary sense of the term. Reflection will show that the sense of awareness which we term consciousness is an inner, subjective, psychic state that is best described by the term feeling of awareness, so that my knowledge of a thing is my feeling of awareness of its presence or existence. As such, my consciousness of an object implies the simultaneous awareness of my own being as well as that of the object of my knowledge. This will be clear to any one who has understood the nature of knowledge to consist in a sense or feeling of awareness, for one can but feel one's own being and the states or conditions of that being, as occasioned or modified by the influence of another being or thing. These states or conditions, it should be further noticed, are not pure imaginary abstractions; they inhere in the soul-substance and are actually its modifications. They are felt by the soul as such, and not as something different from or independent of its own being. Hence it is wrong to think that in knowing an object of knowledge the soul is only aware of the object, but not of itself. The fact is that only that which has a concrete existence can be felt by the soul, and as the states of consciousness, that is to say, of the soul-substance, have no existence apart from the soul-substance itself, they can only be felt simultaneously and along with the soul's own being itself. This is so even with reference to the feelings of pleasure and pain with which all of us are familiar. When I say, 'I am feeling pain,' or 'I feel pleasure,' I do not mean that pleasure and pain are concrete things outside my own being which I have alighted upon in some mysterious way. What I do mean is that I am aware of a state or modification of my being which is pleasant in one case and painful in the other. Pleasure and pain are thus only conditions of my own being and are felt by me as states of my consciousness, that is to say, of the general feeling of awareness which I have of myself. The same is the case with knowledge. We conclude, then, that spirit is a unique kind of substance which is characterised by consciousness and life. As such, it is the subject of knowledge, and is quite independent of the brain and of the matter of which the brain is composed.

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY The cause of the error into which materialism has fallen seems to lie in the erroneous notion that spirit could not be affected by matter, nor could influence it in its own turn. Obsessed with such a notion as this, the investigators could not but go astray, and no one need wonder if their investigations have not led them to a soul that is unchanging or to a consciousness that does not inhere in some kind of substance or other. .: We must now proceed to investigate the nature of spirit ourselves to understand its destiny. The most striking feature of spirit, of course, is consciousness, though life is the real synonym for it. This is so because, while consciousness is latent and not always observable in certain conditions even in rational animals and men, as for instance when they are asleep, life is a sure indication of the presence of spirit, and easily distinguishable from a non-living substance. For this reason the term jiva (living substance) is employed in the Jaina Siddhinta for spirit, and ajiva (non-spirit) for the remaining substances. As a conscious entity, every soul is omniscient by nature, however much that omniscience may remain unmanifest in ordinary cases. The argument which proves the omniscient nature of the soul consists of the following two propositions, namely :-. 1. all things are knowable ; and 2. the soul is a substance whose function is to know. The first of these propositions--all things are knowable-means that that which can never * be known by any one is non-existent ; for what nobody can ever know will never be proved to exist, and what will never be proved to exist can never have the remotest claim to existence. To put the same argument in different words, before we concede existence in favour of a thing some one will have to fry, things breus That teradditional attribute engagedwireless telegraphics ope, although nown, but possessoat term, it w * The argument that if living beings come to an end before the completion of scientific enquiry, things must remain unknown, is not to the point, for that would not make them unknowable. That term, it will be seen, is not a synonym for what is termed unknown, but possesses the additional attribute of never being known to any one, although capable enquiring minds exist and become engaged in the exploration of nature and the investigation of truth. Hence, if radium, wireless telegraphy, gramophone and the like discoveries and inventions of the nineteenth century A.D. had remained for ever unknown because of the total disappearance of knowing beings at the end of the eighteenth century, it would only have been a case of knowable things remaining unknown, but not of any of the unknowable sort.

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22 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES prove its existence; but he who will prove its existence will at least know it himself. Now extend the scope of the conclusion and we have it that every thing that can ever be proved to exist must be known to at least one being-which is our first proposition. The second proposition-that the soul is a substance whose function it is to know-has already been established in these pages and needs no further proof now. Now, since the soul is a substance and since the properties of a substance are the same wherever it may be found, it follows that all souls are alike in respect of their attributes and function. Hence, what one soul can know, all others can know also. Thus every soul has the capacity to know all that every other soul knew in the past, knows now, or will ever know in the future. In other words, every soul is omniscient by nature, that is, in potency. The cause or causes which stand in the way of the realisation of this potential omniscience will be enquired into later when we come to investigate the doctrine of karma. Meanwhile we shall study the nature of happiness which every living being is anxious to secure for himself. Observation shows that happiness, like knowledge, is only a state or condition of Life itself. Certainly there is no such thing as happiness in the outside world, and even if there were it would not be easy to imagine how it could confer happiness on oneself. The truth is that true happiness only arises from within, and generally only when the soul is freed from the load of anxiety or worry in some form or other. The feeling of joy which a school boy feels on his success in an examination only arises from within, and is clearly occasioned by the assurance that never again need that ordeal be undergone. The sense of freedom from future straining and striving is, thus, the immediate cause of joy. which, as stated before, arises from within Life's own mysterious being. Life or Soul, then, is the very Fountain-spring of joy. Passing on now to a consideration of Eternal Life, it is easy to see that every soul is immortal by nature, being, as already noted, devoid of parts which might disintegrate or fall apart. Bodily death, it will be seen, is due to the soul's association with or ensoulment in a physical body which is liable to decompose and disintegrate, being

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY but a bundle of atomic matter; but that which is not made of atoms or parts is not so liable in any way. Pure spirit, then, is immortal, in addition to being omniscient and blissful. But omniscience, bliss and immortality are the very things which we associate with our most exalted conceptions of Divinity. It follows, therefore, that every soul is a God in embryo, and only needs full unfoldment to attain to Godhood. This is why we find all religions concurring in the ancient injunction: man know thyself. Muhammad also said: 'He who knoweth himself, knoweth God.' The Bible, too, exhorts us to attain the perfection of God in the following remarkable words (Matt. V. 48): "Be ye therefore perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect." It was certainly meant that the perfection of God could be attained by the human soul; for otherwise it would be monstrous to ask one to do a thing which it was impossible to attain. A Muhammadan poet puts the case even more clearly when he says: tw nmny chw w shwd bydr t tw hsty khdy'y dr khwb st 23 * The use of the word is here very significant, the translation being so long as the egotistical 'I' in thee is in evidence, a God is asleep; when thou shalt cease to be, he shall wake up. Shams of Tabrez also said :-- chr khwd r khwd nZr khrdm nh dydm jz khd drkhwd `jb mn shmsh tbryzm khh gsht, shyfth br khwd * [Tr. What a wonderful being am I, Shams of Tabrez: when I came to look into myself, I found none but God in the self.] In Hinduism also we have it that the Atman (the individual soul) and Paramatman (God) are the same. Thus all concur in the dictum of the Jaina Siddhinta that the soul is a divinity in 'embryo.' But the question is, how is the potential to be translated into the actual? In other words, how are we to attain to the status of a God? The answer to this is quite simple, and consists in the removal of the causes which debar us from the enjoyment of our natural properties, omniscience, bliss and immortality. For it is but common sense to say that the removal of the cause must lead to the disappearance of the effect. The problem, then, reduces itself to the simple question,

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24 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES what is the force which prevents us from the enjoyment of our natural attributes, and how is it generated ? .. Now, it is obvious that the functions of a substance cannot be limited, modified or curtailed, except by some other substance. It follows, therefore, that if the soul is unable to exercise its natural functions, its inability to do so must be due to the harmful influence of some other substance with which it must be associated. The Jaina Siddhanta points out that matter is the substance which gets into combination with spirit and thereby gives rise to various kinds of forces, restricting and curtailing the natural properties and functions of the soul. The rule is that with every movement or action - whether physical, mental or vocal-there is an influx of material particles towards the soul, which combines with the incoming material under the influence of its desires. This is not the place to enter into a minute analysis of the subject, but if any one will try to find out the reason why the relish of food is not enjoyed when attention is directed elsewhere, he will not be long in perceiving that an all-absorbing interest in the object of attention at the time and the want of attentiveness towards the food actually on the tongue prevent the relishparticles from reaching and affecting the soul. This is tantamount to saying that there is an influx of relish-particles from the food in the mouth to the soul and that the latter is affected by them. This influx is brought about by attention and is prevented by the mind being deeply interested in something else at the time. But interest is merely another word for desire, because our interests are mainly determined by our desires. Hence the rule that the fusion between spirit and matter takes place in consequence of desire. The destruction of desire, then, is the means to the salvation of the soul. It is for this reason that every rational religion enjoins the practising of renunciation on its followers. So long as the soul remains in association or combination with matter, it exists in an impure condition and cannot attain to the status and perfection of divinity. It is also subject to repeated births and deaths, i.e., transmigration, in that condition. The idea is that the somatic death does not signify a complete separation between spirit and

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SACRED PHILOSOPHY matter, for if that were so, every soul would become a God the moment it breathed its last, which would be absurd. Material impurities adhere to the ego in the form of two subtle invisible bodies, known as the kirmina (the body of karmas) and the taijasa sariras (the body of electric or magnetic matter); and in consequence of the forces of magnetism and chemical affinity which are set in motion by and through them it is attracted and drawn into a new womb immediately on its being released from its gross physical body in consequence of death. As for the circumstances and conditions of the future life, the rule is that the soul being the maker of its own body and liable to be affected by its surroundings, impressions, tendencies and beliefs, the organizing forces residing in the two inner bodies referred to above are modified at the end of each incarnation, giving rise to differences of bodies and bodily limbs, from life to life. Hence, whether an individual is born in pleasant surroundings or in those that are disagreeable, whether he incarnates among men or brutes, whether he is endowed with strong commonsense or is devoid of it, and other such differences of temperament, surroundings, environments and the like, are all due to the different tendencies evolved out by him in the past. Thus is birth followed by death and death by re-birth till nirvana is attained, when the soul is rid of all kinds and forms of material impurities once for all, and continues to live, for ever, in its own natural purity, as pure Effulgent Spirit, omniscient, immortal and endowed with surpassing happiness ! Such, ladies and gentlemen, is the goal of philosophy in the Jaina Siddhanta--it aspires to raise puny miserable mortals to the status and dignity of Gods! It only remains for me to say that it has not been possible for me to do aught more than to touch the bare fringe of the subject, though we have devoted so much time to it. But if any one feel interested in the further study of the subject, there are books now available which will be found to be helpful for the purpose. I must not forget to thank you for your attentiveness throughout this long discourse before I resume my seat. Such interest in a subject-matter of this kind is certainly expected to be productive of good results. What I particularly wish you to note to day is that the soul is an immortal

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25 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES substance which survives physical death, passing into fresh surroundings and environments there and then. Whether these conditions are agreeable or undesirable rests entirely with our own selves. If we try to improve ourselves, by curbing our desires and animal proclivities and propensities, we shall obtain pleasant, agreeable conditions and surroundings, and ultimately also nirvana, that is Godhood ; but otherwise there can be nothing but brambles and thorns for our lot in the future rebirths. Indifference to Religion would be justified if there were to be no future life for the ego; but that foolish supposition is no longer possible for us now. It is certain that the soul is immortal and will find itself in fresh environments when this life shall have come to an end. Shall we not, therefore, now take the shaping of our destiny in our own hands, instead of allowing it to be marred and ruined by our indifference and wrong living ? The secret of success lies in Renunciation, i.e., the eradication of desire. Shall we not now justify our claim to be considered rational beings by giving up, from this moment, the worst form of desire--the tearing off and eating the flesh of our innocent fellow-beings ? At least, shall we not make a beginning now by giving up shikar (sport) which is sure to lead the soul to the very worst conditions of life in hell? If we understood the language of the mute appeal of the innocent victim of our sporting lust, we should find it to consist of but three wordsahimsi paramo dharmah (non.injury is the highest religion). He appeals to us, not only so that we may spare his life, which we hold so lightly, through ignorance, but also that we may have pity on your own individual soul, that is in imminent danger of descending into hell when the oil of life here runs short. And it is to be hoped that this highly humane appeal from dumb animal lips does not fall on entirely deaf ears. SRI JAINA DHARMA KI JAI,

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THE JAINA DOCTRINE Namih sri Vardhamana-e nirdhutakalilatmane Salokanama trilokanama yada-vidya darpanayate ! Tr.-I bow to Sri Vardhamana Mahavira who has washed off the impurities of karmic filth from His Soul, (and] In Whose Perception scintillate the three Worlds and the infinity of Space, as in a mirror ! Mr. President, Brethren and Sisters, or, as you say in the West, ladies and gentlemen : I am very pleased to have this opportunity of discoursing on the Jaina doctrine to the present distinguished company of the great French people, who are noted for their keen intellectualism, and I thank this great Association of the Friends of the Culture of the East, and especially its Hon. Secretary and the Joint Secretary, Mlle. Gadet and Mlle. Boundmann, for arranging for the present lecture. You remember that I offered salutation to the Holy Tirthamkara Mahavira at the very commencement of my lecture. The reason of this is that we the Jainas always offer obeisance to the Tirthamkara, who is the ideal of Perfection for ourselves, at the commencement of a religious lecture or discourse, to purify the internal and the external atmosphere from passion, prejudice and other like causes of error and falsehood. The Tirthamkara is the most perfect of men. He has attained to the purity of spiritual life, and become a God. He is Omniscient and enjoys unexcelled happiness. The Jainas will not follow any one who is not omniscient, or who has motives of his own to serve still left in him. T'he Tirthamkara is both Omniscient and devoid of personal motives and considerations. It is obvious that the word of one whose knowledge is not perfect or who has his own interests to serve even in respect of a small matter cannot be depended upon. Consciously or unconsciously such a person is sure to mislead his followers somewhere or other ! Mahavira, the last of the twenty-four Tirthamkaras who appeared in the present cycle of time, was the proper Teacher, because He was all-knowing * A lecture delivered in Paris before the Association des Amis de l'Orient on 28th November, 1926.

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28 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES and absolutely devoid of a motive and personal considerations. Buddha, who was a junior comtemporary of the Holy Tirthamkara, and who, according to Sanderson, was at one time a disciple of the great Mahavira, referred twice to the Jaina claim that the Tirthamkara was sarvagya and sarva darsi (a knower and perceiver of all things). These references are to be found in the Majjhima Nikaya of the Buddhist Scriptures. And some centuries later, we find the celebrated Buddhist Logician, Dharmakirti, referring to the example (dristanta) of two of the Jaina Tirtham karas, the first and the last, as endowed with Omniscience, in one of the illustrations, in his famous work, the Nyayabindu. In the scriptures of Hinduism, too, Risabha Deva, the first Tirthamkara, is acknowledged to have attained omniscience. : The Jainas maintain that all souls are naturally endowed with the attribute of omniscience, so that the Tirthamkaras were no exception to the rule. But we shall have to refer to this matter a little later on again. The reason why obeisance is offered to the "Tirthamkara is not because He will be pleased with such homage and grant us something, but because He is the ideal for the devotee's soul, who himself wishes to become like the Tirthamkara, in all respects. This he hopes to attain by following in the footsteps of the Master. The Jainas accept no teaching that is not scientific. They hold that wherever there is a fact it must be of a clear and definite and certain nature. It is not in the nature of a fact to be vague and indefinite. And since definiteness and certainty appertain to science, the Jainas maintain that all facts are capable of intellectual demonstration, and of being established by scientific investigation. As for the practical side of religion, the Jainas urge that nothing that is unscientific or vague can ever be relied upon for producing immediate, certain and unvarying results. The Jaina term for science is vastu-svarupa (nature of things); what does not conform to vastusvarupa is naturally not scientific. The Jaina Doctrine is known, consequently, as SIDDHANTA (Established TRUTH). : A SIDDHANTA like the Jaina Doctrine, must necessarily proceed by the formulation of a method of investigation which will faultlessly lead an enquirer to Truth, speedily. Such is the Jaina Logic and

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JAINA DOCTRINE the world-famous theory of the Syadvada. There is not time enough to go into this subject at present, but I will merely mention that the basis of the Jaina VYAPTI (the basic force of a logical deduction) is a relationship, between different things, that is unalterable, fixed and unvarying, as for instance that between youth and old age, the latter always following the former, and never otherwise. When an inference is grounded upon such a rule it cannot but hold good for all men. This one rule if properly observed will lead an investigator to pure TRUTH in the shortest possible time, and it will be impossible to go astray while following it ! Turning to religion itself, the Jaina wants to know in the first instance why he should engage himself in the worship of any man or God or super-God ? He analyses his wants, and discovers that behind all forms of human cravings and longings and desires there is only an insatiable thirst for happiness. Happiness is what all living beings seek, and it is the aim of all their activity, whether instinctive or intellectual ! Further analysis reveals the fact that happiness is not possible for him who has constantly the fear of death gnawing at his heart, and also for him who is ignorant. In short we want immortality, all-embracing knowledge and uninterrupted Bliss, and will not be satisfied with anything less. Now, Jainism discovers that the soul is by its very nature 1. a simple substance, as distinguished from a compound thing, 2. endowed with the capacity for infinite, all-embracing Know ledge, and 3. blissful ! The short time at my disposal today will not admit of my enlarging on any of these essential potentialities of the soul-substance or to undertake their proof. It must therefore suffice for today that very strict logical proof is available to prove the Jaina claim in this respect, which any one who will read some of my own works on the subject will find out for himself. I must however draw your attention to the fact that Modern Experimental Psychology is generally coming round to the view that the soul is a simple substance and as such deathless and immortal! I will refer those who like to pursue the theme any further to McDougall's Physiological

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30 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Psychology, where this proposition is definitely accepted. As you will notice, the significance of the simple nature of the soul is that IT IS INCAPABLE OF DISINTEGRATION OR OF BEING DESTROYED; BECAUSE WHAT IS NOT MADE UP OF PARTS CANNOT BE PULLED TO PIECES IN ANY WAY! The soul, then, is IMMORTAL in its own right! Now, in regard to OMNISCIENCE also it will be noticed that knowledge is merely a state of the soul's own consciousness. In perception, for instance, the external stimulus which comes through the doorways of the senses is only matter or energy. But knowledge results when it reaches the perceiving faculty. Whence comes this knowledge, then ? Surely not from the world outside, but only from within the perceiving consciousness itself! Amongst European thinkers the idea has been developed by Prof. Bowne, an English Metaphysician, who shows that all knowledge only reveals the internal richness of the perceiver, and is merely an expression of his real nature. If we reflect on the subject, it will certainly appear that inasmuch as all souls are of a like nature all the knowledge that is individually acquired or enjoyed by them may be enjoyed by any one of them. In other words, what one soul knows is capable of being known by all others. Hence, every soul has the capacity for knowing all that any one ever knew in the past, and all that any one knows today, and also all that which any one shall ever know in the future. This means nothing more or less than knowledge unlimited by Time and Space ! With regard to bliss also, it may be seen that happiness that is experienced on the receipt of the news of success in some big enterprise, e.g., a University Examination, comes from within, and not from the world without. For neither the words nor the writing of the message of success contain happiness within them. This happiness arises not by way of sense-gratification ; it does not even resemble the pleasure that is experienced through the senses, but is of an entirely different nature. It is experienced because the news of the success in the examination has put an end to all worries and anxiety and to the sense of striving and straining which was troubling the soul thus far, leaving it free to experience

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31 JAINA DOCTRINE its own real, natural feeling. It may be stated that pleasure or happiness is of three kinds, namely, 1. physical, that is sense produced, 2. mental, that depends on the pleasant aspect of a mental picture, and 3. spiritual, that is independent of both the senses and the mind, or imagination, and arises only when the soul is left free to itself to feel its own natural state, which is joyous. The entirety of the soul-substance being but a simple, partless entity cannot but be Knowledge and Joy all over for the foregoing reasons. The Jaina Siddhanta, therefore, points out that what we set out to obtain, namely, immortality, omniscience and bliss, are not far to seek, being our own nature. These are, however, not available to us today on account of the limitations imposed on our nature by our circumstances. Being associated with a perishable material body, the soul is subject to birth and death, while matter also acts against it to obstruct its knowledge and joy. Freedom from matter alone, then, can give us the immortality, the all-wisdom and the joy of Gods that we are hankering after. Such is the Doctrine of Jainism. But I should point out that the Jaina Siddhanta is not merely a body of theoretical doctrines ; IT IS A PRACTICAL RELIGION OF LIVING TRUTH. Every statement of its doctrine is actually founded upon the practical experience of the very large number of Souls that have benefited by its teaching. Repeatedly have practical experience and knowledge justified the truth of the Jaina Doctrine, and the lives of those Great Ones who have attained to the Supreme Status of Divinity by following the teaching may be read in the Puranas which contain them. The Jaina Ethics embody the practical rules of Right Conduct that enable the soul to become a God. The immediate effect of the acceptance of the Jaina doctrine is to make the worst sinner a good citizen at heart. He will then advance on the path of piety and virtue, rising, constantly, through the householder's life, to sainthood.

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32 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES The saint perfected in respect of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, becomes a God, on separating himself completely from matter. I have no time to go into the metaphysical aspect of Right Action, but in a general way, I may say that the cause of the association of Spirit and Matter is the element of desire for the enjoyment of the "good things" of the world. In consequence of this element of weakness, the soul is constantly attracting to itself and absorbing large quantities of subtle invisible material which combines with it and becomes the cause of its bondage. This is the bondage of karmas, and it is destroyed only when salvation is obtained. If salvation is not obtained, the soul continues to undergo re-incarnation. Life in embodied form is always full of misery and pain and suffering ; there is no such thing as happiness for the unemancipated. And even when we think that we have much to make us happy, we really hide our true feelings from ourselves. For no one who has the fear of death, disease and calamity before him can ever be truly happy. Furthermore, the sufferings of those who are dear and near to us are sufficient to mar the few moments of joy that we may be able to obtain in our own lives. And what of the lower forms of life into which the soul might pass any day? When even the human life is not able to secure to us the joy that we seek, how is it possible to have it in the lower kingdoms? Thus reflecting, the soul of the knower of Truth is ever spurred on towards Right Conduct, replacing at first its vices by corresponding virtues, and finally perfecting itself in the position of sainthood, whence God hood is the next higher step ! Godhood attained, the Soul that is now completely rid of matter, immediately ascends to the topmost part of the Universe to reside there for ever in the enjoyment of immortality, omniscience and bliss. There is never any kind of fall from this Supreme Seat, and all the other divine qualities than those enumerated appertain to it. Amongst the vices to be given up, the very first is the causing of injury to any living being. This is known as AHIMSA (from a, not, and himsa, injuring). The Right Believer, who aspires to become a God, must abstain from the killing of animal life for good or in sport, from the very moment that he turns to the Light Divine. Other gross vices must also be given up at the same time. Thereafter the path

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JAINA DOCTRINE 33 none. of progress in the householder's life is a steady improvement in respect of mental purity and goodness. The aspirant must love all and hate He must practise the virtues of service and self-denial, and carry them to perfection. By constantly examining his inner mental conditions and states he must rid himself of all evil tendencies and traits of character that are an hindrance on the Path. In this way he will be speedily qualified for saintship. Thereafter is the uphill struggle to get rid of the matter of the body altogether, by uprooting all desires for the things of the world. But though uphill it is the only path that leads to the coveted heights of Glorification, and Godhood and Wholeness, and no soul that really understood its own real nature was ever deterred by the severity of disciplinary conduct from seeking the Perfection of Gods! As regards the Jaina ritual, the saints do not worship any one, except their own souls in pure Self-contemplation, though they offer obeisance to the Tirthamkaras, till they themselves attain to perfection. The householder worships the Holy Tirthamkara with eight kinds of things, which are symbolical of different conceptions and renunciation. He knows that the Gods whom he worships do not require anything from him, not even the devotion of a devotee; for They are full and perfect in Their Wholeness and Spiritual Freedom. The Jaina worship is a form not of idolatry, therefore, but essentially one of idealatry, as I pointed out elsewhere. Nothing is ever offered to Gods, to obtain any boons from them. They are the model of Perfection for unemancipated beings, having been men themselves at one time in the past. Besides them Jainism recognizes the claims of no other god or goddess to divinity. Such is the teaching of Jainism. And I should like to add that the true teaching of every rational religion is identically the same. I have no time to show you how this statement holds good with respect to different religions which are flourishing in our midst today; but I may point out that this matter has been made clear in some of my books that deal with comparative religion, e.g., the Key of Knowledge, and the Confluence of Opposites. Recently I have also composed a small pamphlet entitled Glimpses of a Hidden Science in the Original Christian Teachings that will be found to demonstrate this statement 3

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES in a certain measure with respect to the doctrines of the Christian creed. The message of Jainism to all other religions is thus not one of hostility or hatred in any sense, but one of sympathy and good will. In fact we want you all to understand the true principles embedded in your own religion, and are confident that when this is done in the true spirit of the seeker after the truth the claim of Jainism that Religion is a Science will be readily accepted, and acceptable then will also be its Scientific Siddhanta and its central position as a practical religion among all faiths ! With reference to the doctrine of ahimsi, too, we need not entertain any fear about its clashing with civilisation, to the destruction of the latter. Certainly, mankind will be gainer by the destruction of what is cruel, barbarous, and harmful to the real requirements and aspirations and needs of the immortal soul. Why should we lament if wars are ended, if the slaughter of innocent animals for food is stopped, if harmony and goodwill reign among nations of men ? The claims of vegetarianism have now been sufficiently demonstrated in a scientific manner to superiority over animal diet, and it is time that we ceased to develop further the unmerciful instinct of slaughter that is directly nourished by flesh foods. Let love prevail amongst men ; let us only strive to emulate with one another in respect of service and the helping of the needy. In a word, let the glorious message of Jainism, that is, AHIMSA PARAMO DHARMAH (non-injuring is the highest Religion) reverberate throughout the continents and seas, and let it extend the gift of Life to all. Let us also not fail to contribute our share to the Peace and Joy of the World of Life!

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JAINISM AND ITS POWER TO STOP HUMAN WARFARE* . Salutation to the Founder of the Science of Religion: Adi Purusa Adisa JINA Adi Subuddha Karatara Dharma Dhurandhara Parama GURU Namaun Adi Avatara, (Tr. --Salutation to the First Divinity Incarnate, the First Perfect Man, the Lord of Jinas (Conquerors(, the First Most Excellent Arranger of things, the Supporter of Dharma (Religion) and the Supreme Teacher. Brethren and Sisters, or as you have it in the West, Ladies and Gentlemen : I am happy to have this opportunity of delivering the great Jaina Message of Peace and Love to the present distinguished gathering of thoughtful women and men, in this great cosmopolitan rendezvous of nations, and I like to take this opportunity of thanking Madame Benigni who has so kindly made the necessary arrangements for today's lecture. Now, as you know, the subject of rny lecture is Jainism and its power to put a stop to human warfare. We all remember the awful times through which the world passed during the recent great war. That was fought out, so some people thought and so everybody said at the time, to secure peace. That horrible war ended about eight years ago, but we have seen nothing of the peace that we fought so furiously to secure ! On the contrary, the atmosphere is as hostile to peace to-day as it was when the war came. We still have the same old ideals, the same lust of power and acquisition, the same unhealthy rivalries between nations that had turned the world into so many armed encampments, ready to burst into a huge conflagration at any moment, on the least provocation. There is no difference in the treatment uf the weaker nations by the stronger ones; there is no change in the angle of vision of the statesmen of the great nations : there is no slackening of the rush for armaments and the cult of destructive power. In short, the war that was fought out has * A lecture delivered before "Le Trait d'Union" Society at Nice. 35

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36 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES completely failed in its purpose, if it really did aim at securing Peace! Distrust is the prevailing note of our political life today, and it is distrust which must sooner or later lead us into war again with our neighbours. And let me say that this distrust is fully justified by experience. For we have learnt the bitter lesson that political promises are grounded not upon conscience and honesty of purpose, but upon mere considerations of national convenience and advantage, so that in their hearts the statesmen are all the time aware that the great treaties which they adorn with their signatures are but seldom anything more than mere scraps of paper! But shall not peace be secured through such organizations as the League of Nations, the Brotherhood of Youth or the Fellowship of Reconciliation? My reply is an emphatic NO! For the former will be in danger of becoming the breeding ground of intrigue, and the others will never have a voice in any case not an effective voice in the disposal of matters pertaining to peace and war amongst the nations of men. I do not want to be a pessimist by any means: but it is no good to shut one's eyes to the fact that our political aspirations are at war with the science of peace, and will not yield anything except thorns and tears so long as our outlook on life is not completely changed. You need to change the very hearts of men in the first instance, and the change must be universal, neither sporadic nor erratic. A few peacefully inclined men can accomplish nothing in a world that is constituted by the opposite type of people. The outlook on life of the peace-loving man is very different from that of the average man of our day. To-day you have only two ideals in the innermost hearts of men, namely, acquisition and fashion! What you want for Peace on the contrary is the passion to live and 'let live'! In other words, those who aspire to introduce the millennium of PEACE in the world today must find out a way to the human heart and to replace therein the existing harmful ideals of acquisition and fashion with the love for the neighbour, both near and remote, and respect and loving regard for all forms of life! For unless you respect life in all its manifestations, it will not be possible for you to respect it as you should in your neighbour. I am not talking of the mockery of love that is no deeper than the inucous lining of one's lips, and that readily leads one to circumvent

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JAINISM WILL STOP WARS 37 facts, twist the significance of words and phrases of solemn pacts and to trample on treaties and engagements. If you have no respect for all life, you will never have respect for any of its forms, except when it suits you otherwise or when it is better for you to behave respectfully towards any individual or community or communities of men. Look, all the disturbance in the jungle arises from the presence of animals that prey on and devour the flesh of their fellow-beings. There is no disturbance where herbivorous animals live. The deer, the cow, the pigeon, the dove, injure no one; it is the wolf, the leopard, the hawk, the vulture that are constantly engaged in killing and causing disturbance. The principle holds good throughout. The question is: how is the necessary change in the human heart to be effected? The Bible taught all right enough: love thine neighbour as thyself. But it failed to make any impression on the worldlyminded! Two causes account for failure in this respect, and these are especially strong in modern times. Firstly, the Bible is believed by Christendom today to teach only respect for the human life. The doctrine of love is not to be extended to all forms of life, the animals being deemed to have been especially created for being devoured by men! With such a belief you require an extraordinary logical acumen to perceive the special sanctity of human life, when all its other forms are devoid of it. No wonder that the average man is not impressed with such a special sanctity for the human life. The other reason why the Biblical doctrine of loving the neighbour impresses us not today is to be found in the fact that the modern mind has acquired what I might term a highly commendable spirit of freedom of thought, and is not likely to be swayed by mere ipse dixit and doctrines that do not explain themselves. He will not, therefore, turn the other cheek, or give his cloak also when only his coat it is that is claimed at law. As for the unintelligibility of these doctrines the Bible itself explains: If I have spoken to you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I speak to you of heavenly things ?' And it is distinctly added: 'I have other things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them yet.' The student of the Bible is or

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES ought to be familiar with the fact that its composition and language are deliberately so worded as to mislead the 'swine'class, and that the sense of its doctrines and dogmas could not be understood except under instruction from specially qualified teachers. If any one is interested in this part of the subject I would recommend to him at least one of my recent pamphlets whose title is a sufficient index to its subjectmatter-The Glimpses of A Hidden Science in Original Christian Teachings. Such are the reasons that have stood in the way of the doctrine of loving one's neighbour. Today the great Message that I have to give you from Jainism will furnish a complete explanation of the doctrine of LOVE and will, if accepted, enable us to live in peace with our fellow-beings, as we did in India for untold millenniums in the past, until there was an invasion from the West a little less than a thousand years ago. It is no part of my discourse today to take you through the Indian History or to explain why the western invasion was successful against a great peaceful nation. I will merely remark here, in passing, that the reason was that people had about that time come to disregard the rule of Love and were divided and cut up amongst themselves, so that there was no real opposition to the invading hordes. As a matter of fact, Jainism is not opposed to fighting altogether ; though it is opposed to fighting in all cases except in self-defence. If you are attacked you must defend yourself; but you should not attack any peaceful individual or community yourself. The reason will become quite clear if you take the case of an object of one's love going mad all at once and attacking, with destructive weapons, whomsoever he chances to encounter. It is obvious that if you do not disarm him on account of a false sense of love, you will be directly acting as the enemy of all those whom he will destroy. Under such circumstances if he has to be killed, in the process of disarming, there is no blame in the killer. To come to the explanation of the doctrine of Love, it is pointed out by Jainism that every action affects the doer just as much as the being in regard to whom it is performed. Nay, it is conceivable that the latter may escape the effect of

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JAINISM WILL STOP WARS 39 an action, but the former cannot, though the effect of action on another is easily discernible but not so on one's own self. What happens is this that with every action there flows a subtle invisible kind of material into the soul which combines with it and modifies its constitution and disposition. The soul is a simple substance, and therofore immortal, since compounds alone are liable to disintegration, disruption and destruction. But in combination with matter, spirit or soul itself becomes subject to birth and death. Matter also interferes with its other attributes which are fully divine, whence the statement 'I have said Ye are Gods.' The divinity of the soul can be realised if it can be rid of the crippling companionship of matter. But, as already pointed out, matter comes into it with every thought, word and deed. How, then, is this poisonous influx to be stopped? It cannot be done all at once surely. There is a graduated path of progress along which success can be easily attained. This material influx is of two kinds, bad and less bad. First of all we must so manage our psychology as to avoid the worst forms of this influx, and then gradually all influx itself. I have no time to go deeply into the question today, but I may say that it is capable of rational demonstration along the most rigorous line of enquiry that may be known to science. The principle is that all selfish forms of desire for the things of the senses are the causes which give rise to the worst effects that flow from the material influx. Words and deeds, and thoughts, which are less tinged with selfishness are, then, the causes which enable one to avoid the worst forms of the evil. Therefore, in loving one's neighbour one escapes from the worst results of this influx, and in hating any one, even though it be only an animal that is killed or devoured, one courts the worst fate for oneself, by engendering the very worst types of combinations between his own soul and the subtle material that is constantly pouring into it. This why it is laid down as a commandment in the Bible: thou shalt not kill! You will notice that there are no qualifying words in this commandment to restrict the injunction to any particular class of life; but today we read it as if it were only said. thou shalt not kill man! The higher law explains the reason why thou shalt not kill even an animal,

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40 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES It is not my ambition to enter into a proof of all these statements today; neither would the duration of a short lecture avail me for that purpose. Still I must give you some indications which you can follow up if you be impressed with anything that I have put before you or that I am going to put before you in the remaining portion of my lecture. As to the simplicity of the soul-substance, the following passage in MacDougal's Physiological Psychology will speak for itself: "We are compelled to admit that the so-called Psychical elements are . partial affections of a single substance or being; and since, as we have seen, this is not any part of the brain, is not a material substance but differs from all material substance in that while it is unitary, is yet present, or can act or be acted upon, at many points in space simultaneously. we must regard it as an immaterial substance or being. And this being thus necessarily postulated as the ground of the unity of individual consciousness, we may call the soul of the individual." If you now read the early Christian Fathers you will find they also taught the simplicity of the soul-substance, and a Christian Psychology (see Maher's Psychology) expressly advances arguments to prove that the soul is a simple substance and immortal by nature, since simple things are indestructible, unlike compound things that are destroyed when the parts of which they are composed fall apart. The next thing to understand is that the substance of souls is pure intelligence. This will become quite clear if we study an act of perception. When I look at that ornamentation on the wall yonder, what happens is that a visual sensory stimulus emanating from the ornamental thing outside me impinges on my eyes and is carried inwards resulting ultimately in perception. But surely this incoming current of stimulus is not knowledge, nor even charged or loaded with knowledge. For what comes from the outside is only matter or energy in one form or another, never knowledge! Whence the knowledge, then, that is implied in perception? Surely not from the without, but only from the within! If you think deep on the subject you will perceive that knowledge is a state of the consciousness of that something which is simple by nature, and which we have now learnt *

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JAINISM WILL STOP WARS 41 to regard as the immortal soul. Knowledge is thus shown to be an affection of the soul. Now, let me concede that this affection is provoked by the receipt of the external stimulus, but that does not alter the case in the least. For what must be the nature of him whose mere affections imply knowledge? The soul itself must, then, be pure intelligence by nature. In different words, it is a substance that is embodied intelligence, if I may so put it. This is the reason why it is regarded as endowed with infinite Knowledge potentially, in the Science of Religion. The early Christian Fathers were also familiar with this attribute of the soul. Amongst philosophers, there is Kant who has done so much useful thinking to demonstrate the innate knowledge of the human mind, and there is an English thinker, Prof. Bowne, who distinctly came to the same conclusion as I have set before you today. We may take it, then, that the soul is endowed naturally with a capacity for infinite knowledge. In respect of happiness I must point out that there are two kinds of pain and three of pleasure which may be experienced by the soul. The two kinds of pain are the physical and the mental. There are corresponding pleasures to these, namely, physical pleasure and mental pleasure; and, in addition to these, there is what may be termed Spiritual pleasure or happiness or bliss, which is fully enjoyed only by those who have completely got rid of matter that is adhering to the soul, and purified themselves wholly from its taint. It was this Spiritual kind of pleasure or joy that was the ideal behind the Cross, for the Bible points out: "" 'Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.' Jainism points out that this joy when once obtained fully shall never know abatement or deterioration or interruption. It is independent of the senses and the mind, and is a quality or attribute of the Spirit substance in its pure state. The early Fathers of the Christian Church understood this doctrine fully. In fact all rational religions have been ever preaching it in one form or another. Perhaps we are now able to understand why it is that the atman (soul) is described as paramatman (God) in Hinduism, and why it is that the Biblical teaching has it, "I have said, Ye are Gods." For Omniscience, Immortality and Bliss are the three most worshipful

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42 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES attributes of Divinity, so that whosoever is found to be endowed with them must himself be a God, actual or potential." ! The difference between an actual God and a potential one is just the difference between the life of Pure Spirit and embodied existence. This means that every soul has the capacity if it would but rid itself of the clogging influence of matter to become an actual God. But if it does not exert itself in this direction, its embodiment is eternally perpetuated and renewed by the absorption of the subtle invisible material which is constantly pouring into it through the media of the senses. Now, it is upon the nature, the states and the conditions of the modifications which result from the fusion of spirit and matter that the future forms and prospects of the individual depend. The disposi tion that is engendered in this way becomes the seed of future life, and will drag the soul, by the force of a subtle magnetism residing in its inner constitution, into surroundings that are conformable and congenial to it. Hence, when we act in such a way that the seat of mercy and love becomes atrophied and clogged in our disposition, and the centre of hatred and egotism is developed we must be prepared to find our selves falling into the lower kingdoms in the hereafter. In the heart of him, let me add, who slaughters an innocent life, whether human or animal, are developed three of the most undesirable attributes, namely, selfishness, hard-heartedness and thoughtlessness. He is selfish, for he kills another simply for his own momentary pleasure; he is hard-hearted for the instinct of mercy which keeps one from killing is dead in his soul; and he is thoughtless for he has no idea of the effect his action will produce on himself! With a disposition characterized by such cruel and unholy traits we can easily perceive that the future life of the soul must be cast amongst beings that are cruel, unreasoning and relentless, in other words, amongst beasts and brutes. You know the taking of life is condemned in very striking langu age in the New Testament where it is said: "Go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." On another occasion, too, the language employed was equally significant: "If ye knew what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." The significance of this forcible language is that the people were

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JAINISM WILL STOP WARS 43: not qualified to grasp the full explanation, and therefore the doctrine was given in the form of a commandment which they were to follow. Now, I ask you, if the taking of life for the purpose of a sacrifice in the name of one's god, once a year or so, is cruel and calls for the exercise of mercy, does it cease to be cruel when done for one's own selfish purpose, and in the name of one's own palate or tongue ? Such, briefly, is the explanation of the effect of an action on oneself. Hence, Jainism teaches quite plainly that those who practise ahimsi, that is to say, those who carry out the principle of mercy and love in their lives, not only experience the joy of letting others live, but they also actually and truly benefit themselves, while those who are greedy and selfish, and barbarous, and those who are actuated by the principle of hatred in their dealings with other forms of life, and all those who are vicious and who delight in acts of bloodshed and the raking up and fomenting of quarrels and disputes are, in reality, neither friends of themselves nor of anybody else. They are, in fact, the greatest enemies of mankind, including themselves and those whom they hold dear and near. Such, my friends, is the doctrine of love ; it will enable us to realise our real inherent Divinity if we put it into practice; but if we disregard it and act contrary to its dictates there can be no doubt but that the curse pronounced on the typical (symbolized) isinner in the Bible--cursed is the ground for thy sake-becomes really descriptive of our own spirits. It is in our hands to make of this inner spirit-substance a veritable Garden of Eden or reduce it to a state of desolation when it will be capable of yielding only thistles and thorns in place of the ambrosia from the Life-giving Tree. It may interest you to know that this curse becomes effective through the material influx that has been referred to already by me today. In the Bible also the fact of this evil influx is distinctly recognized, though, like most Biblical tenets, the doctrine could not be and is not given in clear terms. In the 69th Psalm (see verses 1 and 2 the soul of the chorister thus expresses its shuddering horror of the in-rushing stream :-- 1"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 in unto deep waters where the floods overflow me."

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44 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES This is the sinner's supplication to the Divinity within. The condition of the Saved One is described later in the book of Revelations ! when it is said : "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie..."-Rev. XXI 27. As for the result of action in overwhelming one's own self, it is clearly said in the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament: "His own inequities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sins." -- Proverbs V. 22. We may compare the above with what Clement of Alexandria says on the subject (see Vol. II. p. 214) :--"The individual man is stamped according to the impression produced in the soul by the objects of his choice." The truth is that it was distinctly recognized on the esoteric side, which is the only true side of the Biblical and of all other forms of mystical teaching, that embodiment was the result of sinning on the part of the soul itself, and that Divine Perfection was to be obtained by following the special course of instruction which aimed at the emancipation of spirit from the crippling companionship of matter. ! Clement, therefore, said: "... flesh., separates and limits the knowledge of those that are spiritual ... for souls themselves by themselves are equal." --- Vol. II, p. 362. St. Paul, too, refers to the antagonism between spirit and flesh, they being contrary, the one to the other, and winds up by uttering the most impassioned longing to be rid of the body, when he says : "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. The injunction to get rid of the condition of embodiment is distinct in the Pauline Epistlos : "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, 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.

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JAINISM WILL STOP WARS 45 Origen amongst the early Christian Fathers spares no pains to explain the doctrine, so far as it was understood by him. He says (see Vol. I, pp. 82-3):-- "The mental acumen of those who are in the body seems to be blunted by the nature of corporeal matter. If, however, they are out of the body then they will altogether escape the annoyance arising from a disturbance of this kind ... at last by the gradual disappearance of the material nature, death is both swallowed 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." I do not think any further comment is necessary by me now as these passages are quite intelligible and plain in themselves. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the substance of the address that it has been my privilege to deliver before you today. It has not, of course, been possible for me, on account of the limited time at my disposal, to give you a deeper insight into the metaphysics of the Science of Life, as Religion undoubtedly deserves to be called, but I should like to add that there are happily now available works which throw adequate light on most of the difficult problems concerning the future destiny of a living being, and I should fail in my purpose if I did not urge you to study them for the obtainment of what the external world never can grant to the soul that is athirst for happiness and peace. And let me add that if you want your own good, you must be prepared to do good to the whole of the human race, and to the entire community of living beings as far as that lies in your power. In this way alone you can have peace in your mind, peace in your household, peace in your community and peace in the world. Let the blessed Gospel of Mercy and Love, consisting of three in the sweetest of words-Ahimsi Paramo Dharmah (non-injuring is the highest religion)--enlighten and gladden every heart all over the world!

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.46 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION* Adi Purusya Adisa Jina Adi Subidhi Karatira: Dharma Dhurandhara Parama Guru, Namaun Adi Avatira! [Tr. To the first Perfect Man, the Lord of the Conquerors, the first Most Excellent Arranger of things, The Supporter of Dharma, the Supreme Teacher, Salutation !] Brethren and Sisters, or as you have it in the West, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am, indeed, happy to have this opportunity of addressing the present distinguished company on the subject of Religion and Comparative Religion, and would like to begin by thanking our worthy friend Dr. Alberto Poggi who has kindly made the necessary arrangements for this lecture. i Before proceeding any further, I think, I ought to give you an explanation of the salutation which I offered in the Sanskrit language to the Jaina Divinity at the commencement of my speech. It is a rule with us Jainas that we always begin our religious discourses with a salutation to some form of Divinity Manifest, that is to say, to one of the great Teachers of mankind who attained Divine Perfection and taught the path of its attainment to others. The object of the salutation is to purify the mind of the speaker and also of the hearers from such undesirable causes of falsehood and error as passion, prejudice, bigotry and the like. The mere contemplation of Divinity in thought has the tendency to banish these evil traits from the mind; and with them are also banished private hatreds and feuds of all description. The Great Divinity to whom salutation was offered by me this day is known as Adi Nath Bhagwan, which means the first Worshipful Lord. He is better known as Risabha Deva who flourished very very far back in the traditional period. You are aware that modern research has shown that Jainism was flourishing over 2,700 years ago, which is practically the limit of the historical age, at least in India. Beyond this period nothing whatever is known to history. How much further than 2,700 years back did Jainism extend in the past cannot be known historically today. But one thing is clear that that period * A lecture delivered at Genova (Italy) on the 6th January, 1927.

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 47 merely takes us back to the time of the 23rd Tirthamkara whose name was Parasva Nath, after whom the great Jaina place of Pilgrimage in Bihar in India came to be known as the Pareshnath Hill. Between Risabha Deva and Parasva Nath intervened 21 other Tirthamkaras, whose lives are described in the Jaina Tradition, which is preserved in Scriptures, termed Puranas. So far as the historicity of the first Tirthamkara is concerned, I do not think there can be any manner of doubt about it, for he is not only recognized in Jainism, and referred to in Buddhism, but actually accepted as the founder of the Jaina Religion in the Hindu Books. This is the most valuable confirmation of the Jaina tradition, and as Stevenson, a great European scholar, observes cannot be disregarded. The important point is that the Hindus do not know of any other explanation of the rise of Jainism, nor of any founder of Jainism other than Risabha Deva, whom the Jainas name in this connection. If Jainism had been founded by any other and a much later personage, it is impossible that the Hindus would be ignorant of the fact, and would be actually endorsing the Jaina claim instead of refuting it. In my opinion this consideration is quite sufficient to show the historicity of the first Tirthamkara conclusively, How far back in time gone by did Risabha Deva flourish can be roughly guessed in the light of the fact that His son, Bharat Chakravarti, was the first Emperor after whom India came to be known as Bharat Varsa, as the Jaina and the Hindu accounts concurrently maintain. The Jainas maintain that as a science Religion is eternal, though it is periodically lost and rediscovered by men. The last great Teacher of Jainism was the Tirthamkara Mahavira who was a senior contemporary of Buddha. All the Tirthamkaras were men, who became Perfect and fully divine. They are the real living Gods ; besides them Jainism recognizes the claim of no other gods or goddesses to divinity. The word Tirthamkara signifies the maker or founder of a Tirtha (which is a fordable passage across a sea). Because the Tirthamkaras discover and establish such a passage across the sea of samsara (transmigratory state of souls), They are given that title. The Jaina worship of the Tirthamkaras is not idolatry. The Tirthamkara is not an idol in any sense of the word. It is idealatry, as I have explained

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48 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES in some of my books. The Tirthamkara is the ideal for man, who can attain to His eminence, and become in all respects like Him, by following in His Footsteps. He is not worshipped in the ordinary sense of the word. He is merely the ideal of Perfection for ourselves, not the grantor of it or of any other kinds of boons to us. No prayer is ever made to the Tirthamkara in Jainism for this reason. As a matter of fact the Jaina attitude is purely scientific in this respect. The scientist studies the nature of things and obtains what he wants that way; similarly, the Jainas recommend the study of things (in Sanskrit, vastu svarupa) for the attainment of perfection. From this point of view all the Tirthamkaras were Professors of the Spiritual Science which enables men to become Gods. Reverence and homage are paid to Them because Their example is the greatest source of divine inspiration for ourselves, and because the rule is that if you want to become perfect yourself you must take some one who has attained to perfection himself as your model, and follow in his footsteps steadfastly. To come to the SCIENCE OF SPIRIT or LIFE as Religion in its true significance really is, the first thing to know is that the world is composed of different substances which are eternal. The great scientific law of the conservation of substance on which the modern materialistic sciences are grounded suffices to show that substance is eternal, being both uncreate and indestructible. Modern scientists only know of matter, but Jainism points out that Spirit is also a substance, like matter, and equally eternal, uncreate and indestructible. As such every soul is immortal. It will interest you to know, and some of you must be already aware of the fact, that modern experimental Psychology is slowly coming round to acknowledge this position of Jainism. I will refer in this connection to the work of an English Psychologist, Professor William McGougall, who has definitely accepted the fact of the immortality of the soul, on scientific grounds, which are stated in his book. His researches led him to the conclusion that the soul was a simple substance, unit or individual, and because it was not a compound it was deathless and immortal. For it is only compounds that are liable to destruction or disintegration on the falling apart of the parts of which they are composed. What

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION is not made up of parts is thus not liable to fall to pieces, and is actually immortal for that reason. The soul, then, is immortal in its own right. Jainism pushes further with the study of the soul-nature, and discovers it to be the substance of consciousness. The arguments which support this conclusion cannot be stated in a short lecture, like this, where the vast number of points to be dealt with curtail, still further, the limit of time, that may be allotted to them individually, to the shortest possible duration ; but I will just mention one reason which is rather striking. When you perceive an object you can see that the sensory stimulus which co nes from the outside is not knowledge, but only matter or energy in some form. Yet knowledge is evoked thereby in the perceiver. Now, whence comes this knowledge ? Surely, not from the without, but only from the within ! For knowledge is not a thing of matter at all, but only one's feeling of awareness of things ! This is sufficient to show that knowledge merely expresses the nature of the knower. An English thinker, Prof. Bowne, also came to the same conclusion which he has set out in his work on Metaphysics. Kant, the great German thinker, too. found himself forced to recognize the fact that certain forms of knowledge were given a priori in the consciousness of the perceiving individual. The soul, then, is an intelligent substance, in its nature. Now, because the soul is a substance, and because the attributes of substances do not vary, it follows that every soul has the same capacity with respect to knowledge. In other words, what one individual knows is capable of being known by all individuals. On fuller amplification, this only means that every soul has the capacity to acquire a knowledge of all things that were ever known to any one in the past, that are known to any in the present, and that will ever be known to any one in the future. In short, knowledge unlimited by time and space resides potentially in the soul-substance itself and needs only expression to be actualized. The next great attribute of the soul that Jainism lays stress on is happiness. It points out that apart from the forms of pleasure usually known to us there is another kind of happiness which is the natural pulsation of the soul-substance. The soul is a conscious

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50 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES substance, which means that it feels its own states. Even when it knows any other objects, it knows them only because of the modification of its own states produced by them, which it feels. Now, a substance that can feel its own states and the modifications of such states must naturally have an original or natural state of feeling of its own, independently of external influences. Jainism points out that this natural feeling of the soul-substance is purely joyous, so that if the soul was rid of all external influences it would feel nothing but the purest and the most exalted form of happiness. Again because this pure form of the feeling of happiness will be the natural state of the soul-substance, and quite independent of all foreign admixture or influence, it will be uninterrupted and unfading once it is secured from outside aggression and interference. There are other reasons to show that the natural feeling of the soul is one of happiness, but for want of time I cannot afford to go into them now. The result of our study of the nature of the soul, then, is that it is proved to be immortal, all-knowing and blissful, in its own right. But omniscience, immortality and bliss are but three of the most worshipful qualities in the highest conception of Divinity. Every soul, then, is a God in potency, and may become one in actual manifestation, by ridding himself of the cause that operates to deprive him of his natural birth-right, so to speak. The main question, then, is what is the cause that stands in the way of the soul and keeps it out of its Godhood? Jainism deals with this question also in the true spirit of scientific enquiry, and explains that the union of substances tends to limit their natural functions in different ways, according to the nature and extent of their fusion. For instance, when oxygen and hydrogen coalesce to form a drop of water, their gaseous nature is curtailed, and reduced to the state of bare fluidity. Similarly, the functions of the soul-substance are curtailed and suspended by the companionship of matter in which it is embodied. The body is, then, a hindrance in its path, and prevents it from becoming a God in actuality. Further investigation shows that the body is not fixed to the soul by means of screws and levers, or bars and locks of iron or of some other metal. It is held simply by the subtle magnetism of the soul's

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57 RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION own desiring nature, and can be dispersed by the total elimination of all desires for the enjoyment of the things of the world. In other words, matter does not possess the power to assail and cannot assail the soul unless the soul itself turn to it in the first instance. For even such intimate contact as that of food on the tongue will not give rise to its taste unless the soul turn to it; for when attention is exclusively engrossed elsewhere the food on the tongue remains unnoticed, but with attention the relish of every morsel is experienced and felt and enjoyed thoroughly. The difference between the two states is merely one of attention, so that when the soul attends to the bit of food in the mouth its taste is felt, and when it attends to something else knowledge is had of that something else but not of the food, that is being crunched and mashed in the mouth. This brief survey is sufficient in my opinion to give us a general insight into the nature of the soul, and to explain why it is deprived of its natural Divinity, and how that Supreme status can be attained. Now, I ought to state that the Jaina teaching is not confined to what may be termed a metaphysical speculation about things unseen. It is actually grounded, as all scientific knowledge always is, on the practical experience of a very large body of men, who have at various times in the past been benefited by it. The Tirthamkaras, amongst others, are the souls that first benefited themselves by the teaching, and then, after attaining to fulness and perfection with its aid, taught the doctrine to others. Every statement of the Jaina System, thus, is actually founded upon the practical experience of men who knew what they were talking about. This is the reason why theory and practice agree so marvelously in the Jaina Faith, and go hand in hand, so to speak. It is interesting to know that the Jainas maintain and have always maintained that wherever there is a fact it must be capable of a scientific treatment and explanation, and that what is not thus capable of a scientific treatment is really not a fact but a fiction of some kind composed by incompetent men. Jainas further maintain that the real basis of religious instruction in all religions is the scientific teaching of Men who attained the Perfection of Gods, namely, of the Tirthamkaras, but it was

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52 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES preserved originally in two different ways, namely, in plain language which could be understood by everybody, and in a pictorial poetical script, which needed the interpretation of a picture or pictogram to disclose its secret sense. This latter script was the outcome of poetical fervour, and on account of its manifold attractions soon became very popular with the generality of men. The Hindus were the first in the field of metaphorical thought. The Parsis of Iran, too, adopted the flowery style; then came the Jews, the Egyptians, the Chinese and others, including Christianity. The Mahummadans came last of all, a little over thirteen hundred years ago. Unfortunately, poetic genius failed to perceive the evil consequences that were sure to ensue from the allegorical garb. It went on allegorizing the doctrines of the spiritual science regardless of consequences. The result is that there are millions and millions of allegories to be found in the religions of the world, which are today passing current amongst their respective followers for historical facts. As no one is born with an understanding of allegories, there soon came a time when the purpose of most of these poetical pictures became unintelligible to men. A division thus occurred between those who understood things and their hidden meanings and those who were ignorant of all such meaning, but who began to interpret the mythological compositions of their sacred books literally. The numbers of the latter increasing naturally with the lapse of time, misunderstanding and bitterness ultimately arose between these two classes of men, and finally there came a time when no knower of the meaning of the divine pictograms could openly declare them to be allegories. The Esoterists, then, had to recognize the wisdom of secret initiation, and openly declared that sacred books should not be read by certain classes of men, thereby aiming to exclude the people who were shown by experience to be incapable of sober metaphysical thought. This is why you find in the Bible the open declaration and advice: "Cast not your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn and rend you The fact is that the Bible, like the Vedas and all other mystical books was not intended for the generality of men. It was only intended for those who possessed 99

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 53 the Key of Knowledge the loss of which is referred to in the Gospel of St. Luke. About two thousand years back the state of things was so very bad between the knowers of the wisdom divine and the outer rabble, who read everything in a literal sense, that the New Testament of the Bible had to be composed entirely in parables, as it is plainly said: "and without a parable spake he not unto them." The stray doctrinal gems that are scattered throughout the scriptures are intended to help the thoughtful seeker, as the proverb has it, by way of a hint to the wise. The thoughtless were not the object of special care on the part of any one; and it was taught openly: " give not the children's bread to the dogs." These observations apply to all other religious scriptures that are couched in mystic terms. Today what is needed is to re-interpret these old documents in a strictly judicial manner, and on lines of scientific thought. I am personally convinced that they all contain the same tenets, the same doctrines, the same instructions; but that it requires a regular study of Religion as a Science and of the poetical style of the composition of the sacred works to understand this unity. A very large number of these beautiful thought-forms have now been worked out, and complete systems have been unravelled There can be no doubt but that the peace which modern methods and civilization have failed to give to humanity can be obtained through religion. The reason is that the outlook of the former is purely materialistic and takes no acc future destiny of the soul ; but religion properly insis.s on subordinating the activity of a short-span of existence to the larger concerns of all futurity. Religion points out that the soul, being immortal, will survive the bodily death and will rise or fall according to the nature of the disposition it has forged and fabricated for itself in the course of its life. If this disposition is such as con forms to the conditions of life in better and happier regions, the soul will be attracted to those regions. On the other hand, if it has acted viciously and brought about an atrophy of the centres whose development is the cause of the human birth, it must go back to lower kingdoms. Life in the embodied state is always painful ; rare, exceedingly rare, are the moments when one can be said to be happy. Man has always the fear of death, disease

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54 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES and calamity overtaking him and his loved ones. The animal is born into pain and suffering. The immortal soul is subject to birth and death, for the present life is no miracle in its eternal career. Thus thinking, one withdraws his attention from the world outside which is the realm of sickness and death, and turns it inwards on the soul when he soon begins to realize something of the inner joy of being which has been referred to already. Thereafter he speedily qualifies himself to be rid of the pernicious companionship of matter, when setting the natural functions of his soul free to display their full effect, he becomes omniscient, immortal and blissful, and ascends to the topmost part of the universe there to reside for ever, in the fullest enjoyment of all the privileges and prerogatives appertaining to Divinity. There is never any fall from this condition. I must now give you a few quotations from some of the other religions to show that the true doctrines of the Science of Spirit are common to them all. The teaching of Hinduism is well summarised in the following hymn to Yama, who is one of the Vedic gods :All imperfections leave behind : 66 Assume thy ancient frame once moreEach limb and sense thou hadst before, From every earthly taint refined. "And now with heavenly glory bright, With life intenser, nobler, blest, With large capacity to taste, A fuller measure of delight. "In those fair realms of cloudless day, Where Yama every joy supplies, And every longing satisfies, Thy bliss shall never know decay." Here we have distinctly the same teaching that the soul is by nature divine, that its natural powers and functions are not functioning fully owing to the earthly taint, and that by purifying itself it shall attain to perfection whence there will be no fall. The Greeks had the same teaching in ancient times. The Orphic Teacher thus explained the Dionysiac cult: "In all of us there is a divine element not wholly overwhelmed

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 55 with wickedness of which the Titans are the emblem. By innate impurity men are condemned to the cycle of births and deaths, from which they can escape and be made fit for communion with Gods only by purification and initiation in the Mysteries." This again is quite plain, and needs no comment from me. In the Bible the resurrected Soul says of himself : "I am he who liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for ever-more and have the keys of hell and of death."-Rev. i. 18. Hippolytus, one of the early Church Fathers of the ante-Nicene period, distinctly describes the soul as a simple substance, and as such immortal. Clement of Alexandria, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and others also held the same opinion. Origen says : "The mental acumen of those who are in the body seems to be blunted by the nature of corporeal matter. If they are out of the body then they will altogether escape the annoyance resulting from a disturbance of that kind. At last by the gradual disappearance of the material nature, death is both swallowed up and even at the end exterminated ... 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 the bodies will cease ... The whole nature of bodily things will be dissolved into nothing." St. Paul teaches :-- "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." -- Rom. xii. 1. In Colossians (chap. ii. verse 11) there is a reference to the putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ, which means the purification of the heart. Clement of Alexandria tells us : "The Saviour himself enjoins, 'watch,' as much as to say *Study to live and endeavour to separate the soul from the body.'" In one of his many Epistles St. Paul describes the antagonism between the spirit and the flesh, the one being contrary to the other, and finally winds up with the most impassioned ejaculation "O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"

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56 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES The divinity of the soul is asserted quite plainly in the Bible when it is said, "I have said Ye are Gods." This declaration is fully confirmed in the New Testament where with reference to it it is said that the scripture cannot be falsified.' In the first Gospel we have the exhortation : << 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." In Phillippians we are told: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God." These are but a few quotations that bear out what I have said today. I have recently collected, under appropriate heads, a certain number of the Biblical quotations which amply prove the statement that the true foundation of the Biblical Religion was also laid on the very same principles which are embodied in the Jaina Siddhanta (System of Philosophy). This collection has been published under the title, Glimpses of a Hidden Science in Original Christian Teachings.' On the practical side, you have the same teaching about the crushing out of the element of desire in Christianity. The world is described as ranged in a direction opposed to divinity's; he who would aspire to become perfect must not look at her. The culmination may be said to have been reached when it is said: 66 'If any man come after me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Unfortunately this teaching was given in a fragmentary, disjointed, disconnected manner, and, therefore, does not readily command the respect of our modernized understanding, but there is no doubt that the total destruction of desire it is that is aimed at in it. A scientific study of Religion reveals the fact that there is nothing in the doctrine that is really unacceptable to reason, when it is properly worked out and when its practical side is taken into consideration. I think this much will suffice for the establishment of the unity of the teaching between Jainism and Christianity. For want of time I shall not enter into the scriptures of the other religions, but will pass on to the allegorical aspect of the teachings without

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 57 any further preface. I select first of all the charming Hindu tri-murti of Surya, Indra, and Agni for elucidation, as it is one of the most remarkable of human conceptions in a pictorial garb. Of these Surya is a symbol for Omniscience, for as the sun reveals all objects when it rises in the sky so does Omniscience reveal all objects of knowledge when it arises in the soul. Indra stands for an impure ego, trafficking with the world through indriyas (the senses); and Agni is tapas personified, which is the cause of salvation. In a detailed way, Indra (i) is the father of his own father ; (ii) he committed adultery with his own preceptor's wife; (iii) in consequence of this he was afflicted with ugly spots all over his body ; (iv) finally, these were turned into eyes at the intervention of Brahma. The correspondence of these is as follows : 1. (a) The adultery is the penetration of spirit into matter, a forbidden act, since emancipation only signifies release from the embrace of matter. (6) Life and Intellect are the two faculties of the soul of which Life is continuous or enduring but Intellect is subject to vicissitudes, e.g., its suspension in sleep. (c) The source of education to Life is Intellect, external aids, books and teachers, being only instrumental but not the real causes. (d) Intellect is as a rule inclined towards matter and but rarely turns to the study of Life, e.g., European Intellectualism which has hitherto been confined to soul-less' materialism. The conception of the penetration or entry of pure spirit into matter is that of a forbidden act (adultery) with what is most intimately related to (hence the wife of) Intellect, that is the true teacher of Life (hence its own guru).

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES 2. The disease-marks are the ignorant jivas, the pro duct of the interaction between spirit and matter ; they are 'blind' at first on account of ignorance. 3. But when they become self-conscious in consequence of Brahman Jnana (prayer to Brahma) their eyes are, as it were, opened. Hence, Brahma is said to have converted the ugly spots on the body of Indra into eyes. 4. Indra is the father of his own father, because (a) the term father is a symbol for what is termed the material cause of a thing, and (b) because the material cause of a purified spirit is an impure ego, while the latter is itself the product of the union of pure spirit and matter. Hence, is the one conceived to be the source (father) of the other. Such briefly is the nature of Indra and such the description of his highly reprehensible adultery with his preceptor's wife. We have no time to go into further details here, but it may be stated that the enemy of this god is the demon of darkness which stands for ignorance, and the rain that is associated with his name is the peaceful shower of santi (tranquillity) which descends when the heat of passions and mithyatva (error) has subsided. Agni, the third member of this most important trio of deities, is the symbolisation of tapas as already stated. It would be most irrelevant and absurd to treat this deity as a personification of fire or of the culinary art ; but the relevancy of tapas needs no demonstration. Even the word Agni (fire) is the most appropriate one for tapas, because asceticism is really the purification of the mind by the fire of vair igya, or the baptism of fire, as it is termed, in the canonical books of Christianity. As for the special characteristics of Agni, the god (i) has three feet, (ii) seven hands, and (iii) seven tongues ;

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION (iv) he is the priest of gods who appear at his invocation; (v) he is the devourer of the clean and the unclean both, and (vi) the giver of strength to gods, so that the more he is fed on sacrificial oblations, the greater is the strength imparted to gods. The explanation of these highly artistic conceptions is as follows:--- (i) Tapas rests on three kinds of controls, namely, (a) the control of the mind, (b) the control of the body, and (c) the control of speech. 59 There can be no tapas if only two of these controls are exercised, and there is no fourth thing to control. Because tapas rests on these three kinds of controls, it is said to have three legs or feet. (ii) The seven hands represent the seven kinds of occult powers that are acquired by ascetics. There are seven psychic chakras (plexus) in the spinal column and a specific occult force is conceived as slumbering in each one of them. These are roused into activity by asceticism. As power is exercised by hands generally, these seven kinds of occult powers are described as the seven hands of Agni. (iii) The seven tongues are the five senses, manas, or mind, and buddhi (intellect), which are to be offered up as a sacrifice to Agni. (iv) As the divine attributes of the soul become manifest by the practising of tapas, Agni is said to be the priest of gods (= divine attributes) who appear at his invocation. (v) Virtue and vice are both causes of bondage, the former leading to pleasant and the latter to unpleasant kinds of rebirths. Both of them have to be given up ultimately for pure self-contemplation. Hence Agni is the devourer of the clean (virtue) and the unclean (vice) both. (vi) The food of Agni is self-sacrifice, i.e., the sacrificing of desires, because asceticism consists in curbing one's desires. The divine qualities and attributes of the soul are

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60 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES developed and strengthened by the destruction of desires. These divine qualities and attributes are termed gods in the language of symbolism. Hence, the gods are strengthened by the offering of sacrifices to Agni. Such is the character of Agni, which, as you are aware, is not only venerated by the Hindus but also by the followers of the Zend Avesta. The entire scheme of the Vedic Mythology is thus clearly reducible to the following important points: (1) the individual soul is its own God-the jivatman and the paramatman are one; (2) the pure soul is fully divine, being endowed with Omniscience which is a mark of divinity; (3) this natural divinity of the soul is marred by its union with matter; and (4) asceticism is the path which leads to Perfection and Godhood. We thus see that the Vedic Mythology is nothing but an expression, in symbolical language, of some of the most important scientific truths about Life. The subject is highly interesting, but I cannot afford to dwell any longer on it. You will find it discussed in my 'Practical Path' and in the Key of Knowledge' which deals with different mythologies in a cosmopolitan spirit of enquiry. I may say that today there exists a valuable work, in three volumes by a learned Hindu writer, which explains hundreds of such pictograms in the way in which I have explained the secret import of the primary trimurti of Surya, Indra and Agni before you, and the merit of the work is that it cites chapter and verse in support of its elucidations. There has been published, recently, a similar work by a Muhammadan investigator which explains many of the allegories of Islam. The Zoroastrian allegorical teaching is partially explained in the Bundahish. In this connection I may also refer you to my Confluence of Opposites' that explains a good many of the subtle conceptions of different faiths, to bring out their hidden charm and to establish an abiding unity amongst the prevailing religions of the world. I may add that a true and lasting reconciliation among different religions is not possible today except by the proper interpretation of the pictorial script of *

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 61 their scriptures. And when this is done we shall discover the real guarantee of truth to consist in an unqualified agreement between science and religion and the scriptures of the diverse faiths. I shall now explain to you the significance of the fascinating allegory of the fall in the book of Genesis. The story is generally known to men all over the world, and therefore I shall proceed with its explanation at once. To begin with, you must banish from your minds the notion that there ever was a spot on the earth or in heaven, known as Eden, where a Supreme Being plantel a grove of beautiful trees once upon a time. Those who have read Origen's works know how absurd the supposition appeared to him. And Origen was a very pious and learned Christian himself. If you try to picture to yourself further the two famous trees, that of Life and that of knowledge of Good and Evil, you will see the absurdity of the supposition beco ning still more ridiculous. Then, why should knowledge of Good and Evil be forbidden to man? Why, again, should he be punished so cruelly for just one piece of the fruit as to be cursed and turned out of the Garden, to become subject to death, and to have his children and grandchildren, and their remotest descendants, down to the very last man, inflicted with wretchedness and misery? And if punishment was what was intended from the beginning - and an omniscient god must be deemed to have known from the very outset that Adam will prove disobedient -why do we find Jehovah repeatedly sending down prophets for the guidance of the fallen humanity? Could he not have redeemed them with a word, just as he had cursed them with a word ? If you ponder over these and other similar questions that arise on the literal interpretation of this legend, you will agree with Origen that it is not to be taken as a narrative of facts. Its purport is hidden, like the purport of the Vedic deities. I shall now place before you the esoteric interpretation of this fable. (1) The Garden of Eden is a representation of the attributes of the soul. (2) The Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil are two such attributes that are the most important of all; hence, they grow in the centre.

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62 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES (3) Adam is the individual ego that has reached the stage of i evolution known as "human birth." (4) Eve is the Intellect that is made from Adam's rib taken out in sleep an apt simile since the intellect is only a form or function of the ego, with which one finds oneself endowed on waking up from sleep. (5) Man alone is qualified for salvation and therefore entitled to be taught dharma (religion). The animals are debarred from salvation because of their general deficiencies in respect of intellect and other bodily and mental functions. Even the residents of heavens and hells are not entitled to salvation because they are not fitted to perform tapas. Hence, man is the principal recipient of dharmic injunctions. (6) The Tree of Life represents Life itself, and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, the determination of the value of things. (7) The fruit (consequence) of knowledge of good and evil repre sents what are termed riga (attachment) and dvesa (aversion), because we long to possess what we regard as good and to destroy what is bad. If you will now pause for a moment to ponder over the nature of good and evil you will find that they are not concrete things, nor even constants in nature, but mere terms of comparison. The birth of an heir is hailed with joy by a childless millionaire, but it is the actual source of despair and gloom to the extravagant expectant reversioner. The child is himself but an event; he is auspicious, lucky and therefore good to his parents ; but the source of life-long despair and misery to those whom his presence debars from stepping into the jewelled shoes of the millionaire. In the breast of the one it excites love and affection (attachment), in that of the other, hatred and anger (aversion). Thus, attachment and aversion are the fruits of the 'tree of knowledge of good and evil.' (8) Attachment and aversion (raga and dvesa) are two general forms of desire which is the cause of bondage, as

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 63. has been demonstrated in some of the books that have been referred to in the course of this lecture. Hence, the injunction against the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. (9) The soul is immortal by nature, being a simple substance, but birth and death are imposed on it on account of its embodied condition. Hence, the statement: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die " (Genesis ii. 17). It is noticeable that Adam did not die on the day that he ate of the fruit of discrimination, but lived for a very considerable period of time thereafter, dying at the age of 930 (Genesis v. 5). The true interpretation of the text of Genesis ii. 17, then, can only be this that the liability to death is incurred as the result of the eating of the forbidden fruit. (10) The force of desire which drags the soul away from the path of religion to what is forbidden is the serpent through which came the temptation. (11) The ego entangled in the discrimination of good and evil of the objects of the senses has no knowledge of the true nature of the Soul-that it is itself the true God-and hides himself from external deities through superstition. (12) Adam throws the blame for the evil deed on his understanding (Eve), while Eve (Understanding or Intellect) asserts that she was misled and overpowered by desire (the serpent). This is fully in keeping with the psychological functions of the will, the intellect and desire. For our will is guided by the intellect, and the intellect in its turn is governed by desires, the subject of intellectual discrimination being determined not by that faculty, but by the predominant desires of the ego. As pointed out in the Key of Knowledge, the Intellect is like a lantern to guide the footsteps of the individual, but whether it directs him to a gambling den or to a place of worship depends solely on the inclination of the ego and not on any choice on the part of the intellect itself.

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64 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES (13) The punishments of the transgressors are all descriptive of the nature, and functions and attributes of the will, the intellect and manas (desires collectively). (a) The serpent is cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. It is to go upon its belly and to eat dust all the days of its life. The element of sensuality (the serpent) may degrade one even below the level of the lowest beasts and brutes ; hence is sensuality rated below the lowest grades of " cattledom" It is constantly engaged in trafficking with matter (that is in extracting and imbibing the raw material of sensations from the objects outside). This raw-material of sensations, constantly pouring in through the doorways of the senses, is the "dust " which the serpent is to eat all the days of its life. Enmity is also put between the serpent and Eve. "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis jii. 15). This refers to the natural conflict between the intellectual and the sensual aspects of the ego. Desires are finally subdued by asceticism as the result of true Wisdom (the 'seed' of the Intellect). The serpent is also doomed to go on its belly. This is because sensuality can never aspire to soar to spiritual heights, never having a moment's respite from the enjoyment of the objects of sensual pleasure to pause for self-contemplation. (b) The curse on Eve is also fully descriptive of the nature of the Intellect. Her sorrow and conception are greatly multiplied. The animal has no regrets nor misapprehensions, but the man endowed with the Intellect has both. The conceptions of the Intellect greatly multiplied are indicative of the prolific notions men entertain about the world-process and things in general. "In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Genesis iii. 16). The Intellect is governed by the Will, her husband in allegorical speech ; her children are the diverse

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION 65 theories which are conceived and formulated with a great deal of labour and trouble, and her very raison d'etre is the well-being of her lord (Will). (c) The curse on Adam is also typical of the nature of the impure ego : (i) "cursed is the ground for thy sake; (iii) (ii) "in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 5 (iv) "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return into the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return " (Genesis iii. 17-19). The significance of these terms is that corruption enters the soul-substance in consequence of the yielding to desire on the part of the ego, so that it is no longer capable of yielding aught but thistles and thorns; and that it is not in the province of a soul-less materialism to impart the true strength that only comes from Religion. As for the earthly nature of the ego, there are three kinds of personalities: (i) the bihiratman (the bodily self), (ii) the antar itman (the soul), and (iii) the paramitman (God). The foolish man only looks upon himself as the bodily self that is a pure compound of matter, perishable and mortal. The enlightened man knows himself as a soul that is immortal and to be perfected, when he shall become paramatman (God). It is the first kind of conception of the self, the bahiratman, of the fallen ego, that is described in the Biblical curse. (14) After the fall Abel and Cain are born to Adam, of whom Abel is the keeper of sheep, and Cain, the tiller of soil. They both take the offerings of their respective occupations before God, but Abel's offering is approved and not Cain's. Cain thereupon murders Abel, for which he is cursed by God. Seth (the appointed) was the next

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66 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES son of Adam, and Seth's son was Enos: then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord" (see Marginal Notes to Genesis iv. 26). (15) Now, Abel is faith which is turned towards Life, while Cain is reason wedded to matter. Hence, is Abel a keeper of sheep (the symbol of Life) and Cain, the tiller of soil (= Matter). The offerings of the brothers signify the fruit of their respective occupations, Abel's consisting in the best products in the department of Lifegentility of the 'lamb' (excellent meekness), truthfulness and the like and Cain's, of the highest achievementselectric light, aeroplanes, etc., etc.,-of a purely material science. Abel's work is naturally acceptable to God, the Ideal of divine perfection and joy, because excellent meekness, truthfulness and the like are really the first steps on the true "path." But Reason and Faith are incompatible by nature, for the one is critical and the other dogmatic. For this reason is Abel murdered by Cain. (16) The curse pronounced on Cain is also in keeping with the nature of Reason and has been fully explained in the fourth chapter of the Key of Knowledge. Here we have no time to go into the subject. But Seth, which means the appointed, is the divine Wisdom which is to take the place of the murdered Abel (unreasoning faith). It is Enos, the child of divine Wisdom, who calls himself by the name of the Lord, that is to say, who regards himself as a God. Such is the real purport of the story of the fall. As I said the allegory is one of the most fascinating ones. I shall only refer you to one more allegory from the Bible, namely, that of Abraham and his family. Today men are so much accustomed to look upon the members of this so-called patriarchal family that many of you will be astonished at my statement that they only constitute an allegory. But there can be

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION no doubt about it when St. Paul deliberately describes them as such. In the Epistle to the Galatians he devotes no less than eleven verses to the subject, and explains as much of the hidden sense of the teaching as he thought safe to do, by means of another allegory. The text of the Epistle in this regard runs as follows (see Galatians iv. 21-31) : " Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law ? "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. "But he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. "Which things are an allegory ; for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai that gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. "For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. " But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. "For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not : break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she wbich 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 spirit, even so it is now. "Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. "So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bond-woman, but of the free." The significance of the allegory is as follows: the bond-woman is the condition of the bondage of the soul, while Jerusalem represents a state or condition of the spiritual nature. Hence, Hagar (the bond-woman) is symbolical of Jerusalem which now is, that is to say, of the present condition of the spiritual nature of the unredeemed soul. But Jerusalem that is above is spirit in its natural purity, free from all kinds of bondage and bonds. The son of the bond-woman is the apparent or the outer ego, the lower self; and the son of the free woman is the real or higher self that is to be saved. But the lower self is the fleshly lustful ego of desires, and the persecutor of the real Self. Hence is he to be cast out, so that the true Self may enter into life that is glorious and blissful and eternal. The barren

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68 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES woman is the spiritual nature that is at present destitute of divine attributes. She is the one that is bidden to rejoice, for she shall soon bring forth the glorious divinity and the infinity of divine attributes, on the acquisition of Right Faith. Thus, Isaac and Ishmael stand allegorically, for two different types of men, the former representing those who are promised the Crown of Glory by Life, on perfection in respect of Faith and Knowledge and Conduct, and the latter, the ordinary humanity that are characterized by ignorance, and live after the flesh. These types are also referred to in the ninth chapter of the Epistle to Romans, from which I quote the following: 6. ".... for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. 7. "Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children : but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8. "That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God ; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Read literally, that is, in the historical sense, it will be absurd to say that all the children of Israel are not Israel, or those of Abraham, not the seed of Abraham ; but from the spiritual standpoint, the allegorical reading is fully in harmony with the teaching of Truth with which alone is Religion concerned. We also read in Galatians (chapter iii. 29) :"And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heir according to promise." It is needless to say that the Jewish allegorists, both before St. Paul's time and afterwards, held exactly the view which he takes of the life-story of the great patriarch.' This brings the subject of this evening's lecture to an end, though naturally there is a very great deal more to be said on every point that has been touched upon and there are numerous points that have not been touched at all today. The result of the scientific study is before you; you now know what Religion signifies. But it is also possible that you do not agree with me in one or more or all of these particulars. I, too, do not expect, nor could reasonably be ex. pected, to carry conviction into every heart at once. You will, however,

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RELIGION AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION observe that I do not ask you to accept my views, but only to study the subject. The problem is a serious one, it concerns the eternity of the future life of every one of us. If you are a real well-wisher of yourself you ought to take up the study of this subject in a serious manner. To some the idea of a further study after the school career has terminated is not very agreeable; but they must remember that knowledge cannot be acquired otherwise, and that reliable knowledge alone will enable us to save ourselves and those who are dear and near to us. I must not omit to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for a patient hearing, before resuming my seat.

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION This short note has been occasioned by and owes its existence to the keen controversy that has been going on in the world of thought regarding the truth of Religion, especially of the Christian religion, with which alone the generality of English-knowing men are familiar. I have read some of the recent literature, including "My Religion " and the compilation entitled "Science, Religion and Reality," which have been compiled by some of the most eminent of men of our day, and I would like to say that I have found them very useful in determining the precise nature of the attitude of the average thinking man in our day, especially of the average Englishman. It is clear to me, however, that the real issue, the actual point of divergency and differentiation, between Religion and Science has never yet been touched or raised in this or any other controversy within the whole of the period that the subject has been agitating the human mind. Neither in the condemnations of dogma and dogmatism by the leaders of free-thought nor in the writings of the orthodox clerics is there the faintest indication of an understanding of the real nature of that which the one condemn and the other uphold. As a matter of fact there can be no real conflict between Science and Religion when once we understand what is meant by the latter. Science and Religion will be at war only just so long as we continue to substitute the "traditions of men" for the Word of Law; for Religion is itself a Science, the Science of Life that no purely material Science is qualified to take a proper cognizance of. Religion is thus the Science of all Sciences, and therefore the king of what are known to us as the natural sciences today. As there never is any conflict between him who is the king and master and him who serves, the servant, so there is not and can never be any conflict between Religion' and Science, except in so far as the imaginations of men may picture to themselves things in a topsyturvy way. 70

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71 THE RIGHT SOLUTION It will, no doubt, be a big surprise to many of my readers to be told that Religion is a Science. Nevertheless the statement is a deliberate one. For all the real Founders of Religion were scientists in the truest sense of the term, and understood their subject in an exact, precise and definite way. There is a good deal of the true spirit of this science of Religion to be found in the Bible itself, though it is not likely that the untrained eye shall ever discover aught but dogma and myth within its four corners. The reason for this lies in the fact that the language of the Book is not the common parlance of a particular people or race of men, but a concealed script which effectively hides the true import of the teaching from the desecration of the profane gaze. Let me explain that the Bible, like the Vedas, the Koran, the Zend Avesta and many another sacred compilation on the Science of Life, is composed in the form of a series of elegant pictograms which have to be understood before the purport of the authors can be grasped, and the extent of their knowledge ascertained. I have called this secret script" Pictokrit" in one of my books on the subject, to distinguish it from Sanskrit (the polished tongue), on the one hand, and from Prakrit (the common parlance of men), on the other. The knowledge of this pictorial script has been lost almost entirely now, and it is, therefore, not surprising that people should have no true insight into the nature of religion today. It is not difficult to prove these assertions. In every mystical religion the injunction not to read the scriptural text except under instructions from a qualified teacher was imparted as an article of faith. The Hindus forbade the reading of the Vedas to Shudras, who really were those not endowed with Brahmana intelligence, not those who belonged, in consequence of the incident of birth, to the lowest class of Aryan peoples, also termed Shudras. The Jews would not allow the 'chariot,' which meant metaphysics, to be studied except under special guidance; the Roman Catholics, too, do not recommend the reading of the Bible by the laity except it be explained by properly qualified preceptors. In the Bible itself one reads the injunction against the casting of pearls before swine, who are sure to trample them under foot and turn upon the instructor. The whole of the Sacred Book is couched not in words but in pictograms, each

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES of which conceals a scientific truth. There was a key to the understanding of these truths which was, in the B. C. days of the ages gone by, possessed by every teacher of the mystic script ; but it was subsequently lost, and it is this " Key of Knowledge " the loss of which is commented upon in such remarkably severe terms in one of the gospels : "Woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."--Luke xi. 52. And what has been said of the Holy Bible in this respect also holds good in regard to the other scriptures that have been referred to above.* The result of ignorance has been far-reaching. It has set us quarrelling with our fellow-men, instead of reconciling us to one another. What happens when a person is born in the world is this that his parents and guardians hand him a set of the sacred pictograms, which, of course, they do not themselves understand and are naturally also unable to explain to him. He is required, under one form of religious sanction or another, to put faith into the set thus handed to him, and accepts a good deal of the parental instruction for truth. As he grows up in life he comes in contact with other men who possess similar sets; but these are different from his. Then there is a comparison of the merits of the different sets, for men will begin to talk on any subject when brought together. Soon it is found that the sets do not agree, and then every one begins to praise the superiority of his own possessions over those of the others. This is how misunderstandings are generated in the sphere of religion ; and what have they not led men to in the past ? From another point of view, the child accepts, with implicit trust, the parents' word, whom he certainly has good reason to look upon as his best friends and benefactors, and puts faith into it as * Cf. "The desire for knowledge is Divine commandment for every Muslim ; and to instruct in knowledge those who are unworthy of it is like putting pearls, jewels and gold on the necks of swine ... The calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness; and to lose knowledge is this, to speak of it to the unworthy."-- Traditions (Muslim), see Extracts from the Holy Quran by Abdullah Allahdin, pp. 102-103.

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION far as he can. Belief thus acquired is further directly strengthened and nourished by daily 'suggestion' in the form of prayer and sacrament. This is, however, only the triumph of ritual. There is no question of the merit or truth of the matter of belief yet; one merely forces oneself to believe what one is told is the truth. But the great enemy of faith is reason and the rational bent of the mind. Hence, where science has acquired the ascendancy over superstition, faith is put on its trial to justify its being. This means nothing but the death of the latter where it is unreasoning and unreasoned. The conflict that is now raging between Science and Religion in the West including America is of this nature. The two books which I have referred to above are the natural product of the psychology of the age in which science has driven out all else except what is exact and definitely conceivable from the field. Here and there you, no doubt, still come across men, who, dissatisfied with a purely mechanical explanation of life, try to fight a valiant rear-guard against the foe. But they are really sad at heart, and have the conviction stamped on their faces that they are fighting against fearful odds. 73. Yet I maintain that if they will only reburnish their blades, if they will only give up their false preceptors and misleading guides, if they will but throw away the erroneous commentaries of which they are enamoured, in short, if they will but unburden themselves of the enormous load of the traditions and theories of men, and turn, or rather re-turn, to the original source, with a clean slate of the imagination, and seek to decipher the word of law, as entombed in the artistic pictograms to be found there, they will still discover the true fountain of Goodness and Beauty and Truth,' from the waters of which all true sciences shall ever be proud to quench their thirst. I repeat that the writers of the books of the mystic faiths were not only scientists, but gifted artists as well. Instead of expressing themselves in words they "painted " their ideas in pictures, which were subsequently described in words. Today it is not enough to be able to read the language of such a scripture of truth as a dialect; this will not solve the underlying mystery. A dictionary will fail to tackle a

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74 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES puzzle or conundrum at any time. You have got to read into the original conceptions of art the scientific meanings which were hidden there by the artists themselves. We must make up our minds, for instance, to take seriously the word of St. Paul who says that the notions of God and Christ and the teachings of the Gospels are mysteries which he wished he could explain openly in speech. He even tells us that the narrative of Abraham and his two sons and their two mothers are but an allegory, depicting a secret doctrine which he partially unveils, though unfortunately for us, by means of another allegory. I have no time to explain these mysteries and allegories in the space at my disposal now, but a good many of them have been explained in books which are recommended to be read.* It will be found at the end that the human intellect is itself fully capable of imparting the exact Truth, though in the beginning it plays havoc with our ill-formed, ill-conceived speculations concerning life and the hereafter and God. And the conclusions of unbiassed investigation will be found to be grander by far than anything the human mind is familiar with today in the domain of religious thought ; and they constitute a code of living doctrines which have been the source of incalculable benefit and good to mankind in the past, and which are intended to enable us to attain to a position so high and sublime that people dared not speak of it openly, for fear of molestation and violence from the unthinking nasses at large. I shall now show in a general way from the early Christian teachings alone what this Science of Life was which was imparted in this secret manner to men. It must however be remembered that it is but the barest outline of the subject that can be given in a short note like this. But if any one is seriously minded to make a regular study of the subject. I shall invite him to read the books that I have already referred to. A rough outline of the Science of Life may be given thus : the soul is immortal (being a simple substance as distinguished from a compound which alone is perishable)--it is by nature endowed with a * See especially my Key of Knowledge, Confiuence of Opposites, and The Glimpses of a Hidden Science in Original Christian Teachings.

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75 capacity for the fullest degree of knowledge- it is also blissful by nature-as such it is a God in and for itself-souls are all alike in respect of their substance and attributes-therefore what has been attained by one soul can also be attained by all others--the Divinity of the soul is at present negatived and rendered unmanifest by the association of matter, that is to say, by the companionship of the body-owing to the association of the body the soul is unable to enjoy its natural and divine privileges and functions but when it is completely rid of the association of matter it becomes a God in actual manifestationsalvation means the attainment of the natural divinity and Godhood and dissociation with the body--association with matter is due to desire for the gratification of the senses- Faith, Knowledge and Conduct of the right sort constitute the Path to Liberation the Soul that has become perfect is rid of all kinds of pain, and eternally enjoys perfection in respect of Knowledge and Happiness there is never a falling back into the condition of misery once Godhood is attained, that is to say, from the position of a God. I shall now show by a few quotations from the early Christian teachings that the views set out above were the real doctrines of the Christian creed though imparted in secret. 1. Immortality of the Soul : (a) "Neither can they die any more (Luke xx. 36). (b) The soul being incorporeal is simple; since thus it is both uncompound and indivisible into parts. It follows... 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 uncompound and indissoluble, must be, in virtue of that, incorruptible and immortal " (Ante Nicene Christian Library xx. 115). 2. THE RIGHT SOLUTION 64 The Fulness of Knowledge: (a)" In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and know ledge" (Ephasians iii. 4).

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76 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES (6) " 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). 3. Happiness is the Nature of the Soul : a) " And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isaiah xxxv. 10). () "But the fruit of the spirit is . . . joy ... peace" (Galatians v. 22. (c) "Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross " (Heb. xii. 2). (d) "And exultation is said to be gladness . . . which is according to truth through a kind of exhilaration and relaxation of the soul" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 361). 4. The Divinity of the Soul : (a) " I said, Ye are gods" (John x. 34). (6) "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : Who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God" (Philippians ii. 5-6). (c) "For once the crown of righteousness encircles thy brow, thou hast become God ... Thou hast been deified and begotten unto immortality ... This constitutes' know thyself,' or, in other words, learn to discover God within thyself " (A.N.C. Lib. vi. 402). 5. All Souls of a like nature : (a) "Because as he is, so are we in this world " (1 John iv. 17). (6) "... For souls themselves by themselves are equal" (A.N.C. Lib. xii 362). (c) "... If the heavenly virtues, then, partake of intellectual light, i.e., of divine nature, because they participate

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION 77 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. Lib. x. 353). (d) "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" (A.N.C. Lib. ix. part 2, p. 86). 6. Soul afflicted by the pouring in of matter into it : (a) " 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 in unto deep waters, where the floods over flow me " (Psalm lxix. 1 and 2). (6) "The mental acumen of those who are in the body, seems to be blunted by the nature of corporeal matter. If, however, they are out of the body then they will altogether escape the annoyance resulting from a disturbance of that kind ... at last by the gradual disappearance of material nature, death is both swallowed up and even at the end exterminated ... 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" (A.N.C. Lib. x. 82-83). (c) "... Flesh separates and limits the knowledge of those that are spiritual ... for souls themselves by themselves are equal" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 362). (d) " For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans vii. 18).

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78 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES 7. The body must be completely separated from the soul for salva tion : (a) "O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" (Romans vii. 24). (b) " In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ" (Colossians ii. 11). (c) * I beseech you therefore, brethren, 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). (d) " 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 the joints and marrow" (Heb. iv. 12). (e) "The Saviour himself enjoins,' watch 'as much as to say study how to live and endeavour to separate the soul from the body'" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 284). (f) " Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed..." (Romans vi. 6). 8. Desire for sense-indulgence the cause of trouble : (a) " For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die" (Romans viii. 3). (b) " But to be carnally-minded is death " (Romans viii. 6). (c) " For flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other : so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gala tians v. 17). (d) " And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts..." (Galatians v. 24). (e) " For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Cor. iv. 10).

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION 79 9. The Path is threefold : (a) " Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves "' (James i. 22). (6) " And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John viii. 32). (c) "... The first change is from heathenism to faith ... the second from faith to knowledge. And the latter terminating in love, thereafter gives the loving to the loved " (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 448). (d) "Love is the keeping of commandments . . . and the keeping of them is the establishment of commandments from which immortality results" (A. N.C. Lib. xii. 375). 10. Deification the result of following the Right Path : (a) ".... Practical wisdom is divine knowledge, and exists in those who are deified" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 378). (b) "That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. iii. 19). (c) " Till we all come . . . unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. iv. 13). (d) " That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James i. 4). (e) " For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (Romans viii. 18). 11. The Effect of Deification : (a) "... there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things are passed away" (Rev. xxi. 4). (6) " In the soul the pain is gone, but the good remains ; and the sweet is left, but the base wiped away" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 364). (c) "... they are called by the appellation of Gods" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 447).

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80 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES (d) "... to be a light, steady, and continuing eternally, entirely and in every part immutable" (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 448). 12. There will be no falling back from the condition of Godhood. (a) "... and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. xxii. 5). (6) "... his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed " (Daniel vii. 14). (c) " And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie...." (Rev. xxi. 27). (d) "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 " (A.N.C. Lib. xii. 346-347). Such, briefly, is the scheme of the Science of Salvation in the teaching of Christianity which has remained hidden from the generality of men thus far. In Hinduism also the same doctrine prevails. Mr. J. P. Brown thus sums up the Hindu creed (see The Dervishes, p. 48): "He who undertakes the pilgrimage of the Spirit which is in himself, penetrates all, without regard either to the state of the sky, the country, or time ... securing to himself a perpetual happiness, free from all impurity, frees himself completely from the works, becomes omniscient, penetrates all, and is immortal." I may say that the same is the teaching of every other rational religion in the world, so that all have really taught the same thing, though owing to the employment of the allegorical style their teachings have appeared to be different and conflicting, the one with another. As for the origin of the allegorical style, it appears to have been originally employed out of poetical fervour, and spread far and

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION 81 wide, on account of its fascinating imagery. But as people are not born with an understanding of the allegorical symbolism, there came a time when the generality of men failed to understand the purport of the diverse gods and goddesses and other forms of allegorical symbols whose number in Hinduism alone rose to something like 330,000,000. The ignorant masses then interpreted the sacred writings in their literal or historical sense, and being in power, by the force of their numbers, began to ill-treat those who preached to the contrary. In course of time, the multitude of gods and goddesses gave place, in the imagination of the masses, to one god who came to be regarded as the maker and creator of the world and all that it contained. It is this conception of godhood which has caused all the trouble that has arisen in the past in the world in the name of religion, and it is it also that is responsible for the conflict between Science and Religion that has been referred to in the opening remarks in this note. About two thousand years ago the misunderstanding between the knowers of the Truth Divine and the uninitiated, uninstructed masses had risen to the point of bitter enmity, and the knowers of truth were subjected to all conceivable forms of molestation and violence.* The mystics thus found themselves afraid to speak and yet compelled to practise and preach. They then adopted various secret methods of preaching and practising their faith, some holding their assemblies behind closed and guarded doors. As for the masses, they cared nothing for the outpourings of the mystics so long as these did not * Cf. "These things beloved, we impart to you with fear and yet readily on account of the love of Christ which surpasseth all. For if the blessed prophets who 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 we run in venturing to declare openly things spoken them in obscure terms."-Ante Nicene Ch. Library, vol. iv, 2nd part (Hipolytus). "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."-A.N.C. Lib. xii. 472 (Clement). 46 a person favoured by Providence with reason 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 nation, and nothing has remained of it."-The Guide for the Perplexed, by Moses Maimonides, p. 251. 6

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82 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES openly violate their firmly-cherished belief in a creating and ruling God. Two things especially were intolerable to these men, namely, firstly, the setting up of any one else, whether the individual soul or some other being, as a god, in opposition to their own and, secondly, the denial to their godhead of the creative function. Hence, no one dared openly preach the doctrine of the soul being its own God, and the tenet of transmigration of the soul; for they both went directly to challenge, the one the being, and the other, the creative function of their divine favourite. The mystics, therefore, had to express themselves in the most guarded of terms, and took special care to avoid openly saying anything that might go to inflame the enemies of truth. The measures taken included, amongst others: (a) secret worship and instruction, as in Freemasonry, which sought to escape persecution under the guise of a society of men carrying on an innocuous occupation, whereas in reality the Freemason is not a common mason or builder, but the architect of the Temple of Freedom and Divinity of his own soul; (b) caution in the conferment of membership; (c) secret, that is to say, cryptic instruction, which says one thing and means another, so that even in the hands of an enemy of the faith the composition should pass off as an example of poetical exuberance or license, without exciting adverse comment; and adherence to the time-old symbolism, with which the masses were familiar, to maintain friendly relations with them. (d) The mystics fully understood the kind of trouble that was sure to arise from such wholesale employment of cryptological methods and secrecy; but they were quite helpless in the matter, and had no alternative left to protect themselves and their followers, and to preserve and preach the truth. They, therefore, took every precaution to indicate the proper direction for the ascertainment of truth. Care was taken that certain stumbling blocks, or interrup 66

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION tions to the historical sense should take place, by the introduction into the midst of the narrative of certain impossibilities and incongruities, that in this way the very interruptions of the narrative might, as by the interposition of a bolt, present an obstacle to the reader, whereby he might refuse to acknowledge the way which conducts to the ordinary meaning " (Origen's Writings, A.N.C. Lib., p. 313. Accordingly those admitted to the inner circle were given to understand that certain occurrences were interwoven in this 'visible' history which, when considered and understood in their inner meaning, give forth a law which is advantageous to men and worthy of God" (Ibid. 322). 66 Such mainly are the reasons why it has become so very difficult to unravel the mystic thought in our day. Lack of an illumining light, that is to say, of the scientific knowledge about the nature of the soul and, to a great extent also, the preconceived bias and the superstitious awe born of a literal or historical reading of mystic books, are the causes which have stood in the way of the subsequent explorer of these underground mazes and crypts of mythology. It must be obvious now that it was not for mere nothing that repeated hints were thrown out as to the mystical nature of the composition of the various books. The writers knew that men "shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables (2 Timothy iv. 4), taking them, of course, in their literal sense, as if constituting history. In another place we have the definite injunction against the historical exegesis so much made an article of faith in this age :-- 83 "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith; so do"-1 Timothy i.4. In the same strain it is said: "But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness."-Ibid. iv. 7. "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding prof and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called "-Ibid. v. 20. "" The writer was a professor of the Science of Life, and can have nothing but contempt for the kind of sciences which deny the existence of spirit or soul :

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84 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Unfortunately in the conditions of his surroundings it was not open to him to speak out openly ; that way he might be endangering the safety of the entire community of the ' brethren' even if he disregarded his own personal danger, It was, therefore, doubly necessary that caution should be administered every now and then to prevent men from going astray. This explains why the sacred books are replete with suggestions and indications against the literal or historical sense, while deliberately couched in the vulgar phraseology of the profane. Over and over again do we come across passages stating, in the clearest language, that the reader is standing before great mysteries and things that have remained secret from "the foundation of the world." The notions which the vulgar so readily acquired and propagated were declared to be great mysteries. St. Paul shows how the very idea of God, which the vulgar are content to cheaply dispose of as the creator, is a profound mystery; so are the terms * Father' and 'Christ' great mysteries (Colos. ii. 2). Other references may be looked up anywhere in the Epistles and the Gospels. Some of them will be mentioned here : (1) Ephasians iii. 3-5 (Mystery of Christ); (2) , v. 32 (Mystery of Christ and the Church); 3) vi. 19 (Mystery of the Gospel); (4) 1 Timothy iii. 9 (Mystery of the Faith); (5) 1 Cor. iv. 1 (Mysteries of God); (6) Roman xvi. 25 (Mystery which was kept secret since the World began). In fact, every word where the language conveys no definite meaning is a mystery of some kind or other, e.g., the phrase "to put on Christ" (Galatians iii. 27). It was most certainly not vanity which prompted the great Apostle to say : "I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers : for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. "Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. "For this cause I have sent unto you Timotheus who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church."-1 Cor. iv. 14-17.

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION 85 Plainer talk than this it is impossible to expect: today we have not ten thousand but ten million instructors in Christ, but alas! not one true 'father' in the gospel! It only remains to add that the analysis of the Christian religion, as outlined above, is not only systematic, but also scientific in its nature. I have no time to enter into this subject in this short note, but I will point out that the soul is now being recognised as a simple substance (see McDougall's Physiological Psychology). That it is the repository of Knowledge and Happiness has been made clear by me in other works ere this, to which I am content to refer the reader, if he be minded to pursue the subject any further. It is generally thought that the culmination of the physical sciences was reached in the 19th century, and that the culmination of Psychology will be reached in the 20th. I think this is likely to come true. In any case, I hope that the prediction will be realized; because we shall then have approached an understanding of the nature of the soul, which is the first essential to the understanding of Religion; for, as said by Muhammad, he who knoweth himself knoweth God!' * I shall conclude this note by quoting from the opinions of certain Muhammadan Dervishes, of whom it may be said that they believed what they practised and practised what they believed, to show that the creed of the Crescent, when properly understood, was in no way different from any other rational religion of the world. My quotations are mostly taken from the highly valuable book of Mr. John P. Brown which is entitled "The Dervishes." Those who wish to study Muslim allegory are referred to Mr. Khaja Khan's useful compilation, known as Studies in Tasawwuf," and to my own works that have already been referred to in these pages. To the reader of the Christian thought I would particularly recommend my brochure "The Glimpses of a Hidden Science in Original Christian Teachings." "" MUHAMMADAN TASAWWUF 1. ".. The seeds of Soofeeism were sown in the time of Adam, germed in that of Noah, budded in that of Abraham, and the fruit commenced to be developed in that of Moses. They reached their maturity in that of Christ and in that of Muhammad produced pure

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86 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES wine. Those of its sectarians who loved this wine have so drunk of it as to lose all knowledge of themselves and to exclaim 'Praise be to me! Is there any greater than me? ...I am the truth (that is to say, God)! There is no other God than me'! ..."--The Dervishes, page 9. 2. "For this reason, religious man, intoxicated with the cup of Divine Communion, exclaims, 'I am God.' In fact man's attributes are of a divine character--what do I say?--His substance is that even of God." -Ibid. 10. 3. "The soul existed before the body and is confined within the latter as in a cage. Death, therefore, should be the object of the wishes of Soofee." - Ibid. 12. 4. "The soul is a divine emanation incorporated in a human form. It exists in five conditions, viz., it is awake, it dreams, it is plunged in slumber, it fills a state of half death, and finally, even perfectly separated from the body ... After death it must pass through several new existences. Virtuous souls occupy spheres superior to that of this soul and enjoy the fruits of their good works, whilst the guilty ones are condemned to fill conditions inferior to that of humanity. Wicked people who have degraded humanity in this life will live again in the shape of animal existence ... Baktashees believe that the soul after its separation from the human frame may enter into the body of an animal..."- Ibid. 46-47. 5. "The God... who should be adored by all is an unique deity, simple in His essence ...". Ibid 61. 6. "Deen (Religion)... (is) the only true and correct faith, the right path leading to eternal happiness."--Ibid. 65. 7. "The ... Hadees says, The Faithful do not die; perhaps they become translated from the perishable world to the world of eternal existence." - Ibid. 186. 8. "So far as careful examination and observation show, it is manifest that understanding or knowledge is the part of mujarradat or spiritual things only." ---Al Bayan, page 15. 9. "Paradise and Hell and all the dogmas of positive religion are only so many allegories; the spirit of which is only known to the Soofee." - The Dervishes," page 11.

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THE RIGHT SOLUTION 87 10. "Why parts of it were veiled in allegories we scarcely dare to ask, and may only suppose that the knowledge was withheld for a good and wise cause."-Ibid. 21. (f 11. "... Most parts of the Koran have a hidden, inner or spiritual significance, called by them Ma'anae Batenee."-- Ibid. 106. 12. They must not divulge the secrets to their family (wives and children) nor to anyone who is not the seeker of the truth (Talib Sadik) and ask for assistance in attaining to the path of God (Hakk). In that case violence must not be used towards him who does divulge them to another in the view of engaging him to join the order . . . ". Ibid. 183. 66 13. "The Koran without the interpretation was only an a ssembly of words void of sense..."-Ibid. 336. 14. The historical and biographical portions of these books (scriptures) may even comprise errors, omissions, and exaggerations, and even may have been more or less changed from time to time by copyists; whilst that which is purely spiritual and essential to the soul of man commenced with his creation, has always existed unchanged, and will so continue to the end of time."Ibid. 106. "L LAST WORD. The results to be attained by a scientific study of Religion and Comparative Religion are great. 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, where reconciliation itself, shorn of all ugly memories of the past, merges into the warmth of affection and fraternal regard that is to endure for ever and evermore. Here all differences are melted away into nothing, and men 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,

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88 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES filling the interior with Life and Light. 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, or parts of books, of the same creed; (3) the opposition of scientific rationalism has been broken up; (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. There remains one question to be dealt with: What reliance can you place on fragments and bits thus put together? The answer may be given by another question: How is it that you get a complete philosophical system out of fragments and bits? Suppose you discovered a number of bits of a torn up letter in your waste paper basket, and on piecing them together you found yourself in possession of a complete document: would you reject it merely because it was composed of fragments? This is precisely the case with mystical teaching. In many instances these so-called bits are complete and lucid enough in themselves, and, like the fragments of a torn up document, possess a peculiarity of shape and form, which at once points to the whole article and to their proper places in it. They alone really count in mystic composition; for in the absence of the light they throw and the metaphysical basis they furnish for the doctrinal teaching, it will be impossible to make anything like head or tail out of the stuff of which the mystic's books are composed. May the day speedily dawn and approach near when these ideals shall become realizable by all men !

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PSYCHOLOGY WITH A SOUL W ONDERFUL enlightenment is reached by the investigation of the nature of knowledge. Knowledge is an affection, or a feeling-the sense of awareness of an object or thing. Outside me are things, not knowledge ; inside me is knowledge, not things. The current of vibrations (sensory stimulus) that comes from the external object is not loaded with knowledge. It is only matter in motion, or motion of matter (that is, matter or energy, in one form or another). Only in contact with a conscious substance does it occasion knowledge (perception) ; otherwise only a material or mechanical phenomenon will ensue. The mere formation of the outline of an object on the retinae or elsewhere will not account for perception. No image is formed through the senses other than sight. Visual perception itself only gives us an inverted image which is the reverse of how things are perceived. There is, again. a great difference between the microscopical retinal image and the mental percept, which may represent half the world ! The main difficulty remains yet to be stated. How is the retinal image itself perceived ? Is it its outline that is felt? And, by whom ? Does perception merely consist in a feeling of contact with the image formed in the eye, or further back, say, in the perceptive centres of the brain ? If so, it will only give us a number of simultaneous touchfeelings-a co-extensive series of sensations of touch along the outlines or over the area filled by the image. But how shall we account for the brightness and colour that play such an important part in visual perception ? The external stimulus, it would thus seem, merely calls out what is already there inside ; it is not itself transformed into perception--colour, smell, sounds, etc. Again, perception will be impossible for a composite substance. A composite substance lacks in individualization. Different parts of 89

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90 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES a composite substance, e.g., a mirror, will reflect different limbs or parts only of an object ; the object in its entirety will not be, cannot be, reflected in any of the parts of a reflecting surface. It will, therefore, be impossible for any part of a composite perceiver to perceive the whole of an object. A compound, of course, does not cease to be a compound merely because it is given a 'simple' name! Consciousness perceives the whole as well as the parts of an object simultaneously. It must, therefore, be a simple (uncompound) thing, and unlike the mirror, which is devoid of individuality. Knowledge radically differs from the object in the world outside. The rose on the bush in the garden took a long time in putting in its appearance ; a small cutting was first stuck in the soil ; it germinated after a time ; then appeared leaves and shoots ; then a tiny little bud slowly formed itself on one of the branches ; and after a time it bloomed into a rose ! Nothing like this tedious process occurs in consciousness at the moment of perception. The knowing faculty there and then produces from its mysterious nursery an exact facsimile of the external rose, and that without trouble. It would as easily produce two, three, four, or a basketful of roses, or any and all other flowers, whole gardens, even the whole universe were you to fill it up with floral trophies of sorts, or of only one sort. Its producing capacity is really wonderful ; it is infinite ! Are these epistemological facsimiles of outside objects manufactured in any way in the background of consciousness ? But knowledge is not atomistic, nur made, of parts. Suppose you try to break up an idea, e.g., the percept of a house, into bits or parts, The physical structure can be demolished with pick-axes, hatchets and poles. But with what instruments shall we demolish the mental counterpart of the material edifice ? And how shall the demolishing tool, supposing we succeed in finding one, be inserted in the mind ? A dismantled house is after all so much material and can be rebuilt again. But what would a broken up, smashed up, crushed and demolished idea signify, and how will you reconstruct your mental ' house with the debris ? Does not mangled knowledge stand for utter nonsense?

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91 PSYCHOLOGY WITH A SOUL The simile of the mirror will not do, for it is incapable of perceiving the whole of an object, for want of individuality. Perhaps mental messages flying from the different parts to a central spot on the surface of a conscious mirror will explain the mystery of perception. But you will have first of all to establish the supposition, and then satisfy the mind as to the law which will accommodate and re-arrange all these multitudinous criss-cross messages, without hitch or error, in their appropriate places. I think this will never be done ! What does it all signify, then ? Is it meant that loose ready-made ideas are stocked in an immense 'stores' somewhere in the mind ? No ; for our consciousness is unitary, and not composite. Loose ideas will be like external objects and will have to be perceived as external objects are perceived. With loose ideas the mind will itself become idea-less, and devoid of knowledge. But knowledge consists, really, only in the states of the perceiving consciousness, which are inseparable from it. The unity of knowledge may be further illustrated by another example. A man enters the field of my vision, and is perceived as one. A little later another man joins him. In my consciousness also the first man is joined by a second. Now in the world outside the two men are separate ; the first remained where he was, the second merely came and sat down by him. But in the mind the two constitute but one percept. While the second man was approaching the first one, the mind was continually furnishing new and ready-made mental pictures corresponding to the scene and the movements going on in the world outside. When the two men came together finally, there was no blending or pasting together of two different percepts in the mind. The mind is not possessed of any kind of glue or paste with which it may join together its percepts! The secret is only this that with each act of perception a new mental image is invoked and appears in the limelight.* The illustration of the dismantling of a house makes this idea sufficiently clear. Thus a new percept is presented every * Outside the limelight of consciousness knowledge is not destroyed but exists in the sub-conscious' condition, owing to the inimical influence of matter which is in association with the soul.

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42 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES moment by our consciousness, and it is a non-composite, partless and unbreakable presentation. Furthermore, I can have an idea of an object that may be rough, smooth, hot, cold, light, heavy, hard or soft ; but the idea itself, that is, my knowledge of an object is neither cold, nor hot, nor smooth, nor rough, nor had, nor soft. In the like manner colour is to be found in the objects outside in the world ; but none in the mind. This will also hold good of taste and smell and sound. Knowledge, then, ci) consists in the states of a non-composite and partless, that is, individualistic substance, (ii) is natural to, that is, inherent (unmanufactured) in the per ceiving faculty, (iii) is infinite, and (iv) devoid of material qualities, colour, taste and the like. Now, a thing that is not made up of parts is eternal, being unbreakable, indestructible and indissoluble. The faculty of knowledge, the partless substance whose function is conscious perception, is, then, immortal. As such it is, and may properly be termed, soul! There are other arguments which prove the simplicity of the soul substance. Logical inference is possible only because there is one unitary consciousness. If you spread out the contents and implications of the premises of a syllogism and distribute them, like the details of an image, over a composite area, there would be no one to grasp the logical connection on the strength of which a conclusion is to be drawn from them. Memory, too, will not be possible for a composite being, nor an abstract idea, e.g., beauty, which is, by nature, indivisible. The soul is, therefore, an undeniable reality. It is pure consciousness, that is to say, in other words, an embodiment of infinite knowledge, and a totally different kind of substance from matter. The Jainas and the Hindus actually recognise the soul as endowed with infinite knowledge (omniscient). The Buddhists also maintain

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PSYCHOLOGY WITH A SOUL 93 that omniscience is the natural birthright of man. In the Bible, too, one may read : " In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."-Ephesians iii. 4. Possibly this statement may be taken as having reference to a particular soul. But the Bible itself adds :-- "... because as he is, solare we in this world."--1 John iv. 17. For further information on the nature of the Biblical teaching in this regard, reference may be made to the " Glimpses of a Hidden Science in Original Christian Teachings" among other works.

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SYADVADA PERHA ERHAPS no other cause of error in metaphysics is quite so fruitful as the failure to realize that all seemingly contradictory statements are not necessarily hostile to one another. For instance, when it is said that the world is nitya-anitya (permanent-impermanent), the bewilderment of the untrained mind is great, and it is apt to reject the statement as a piece of bufoonery, if not the outcome of an unsound brain. Nevertheless true metaphysics can only describe the world as nityaanitya. For it is nitya in so far as the substances of which it is composed are eternal and indestructible, and certainly it is also constituted by things that are seen one day and gone the next! In a word, the world is unperishing and eternal in so far as the substances composing it are concerned, but perishing and non-eternal with regard to the forms in which those substances manifest themselves from time to time. This simple truth when rolled into the form of the pilule formulae which metaphysicians delight to indulge in, is apt to cause a great deal of confusion, and has to be guarded against by means of certain well-defined safeguards that aim at ensuring the consistency of subtle abstract thought. The Jaina doctrine of Sydvida is the system of safeguards which aims at maintaining the proper consistency in metaphysical thought. It proceeds to unravel the theory of contradiction, strictly scientifically; and points out that contradictory speech is resolvable ultimately into seven limbs or forms, as follows: 1. affirmance (of a proposition), 2. denial (of a proposition), 3. indescribability (simultaneous affirmance and denial), 4. affirmance + denial, 5. affirmance + indescribability, 6. denial indescribability, 7. affirmance + denial + indescribability. 94

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SYADVADA 95 The above are all the possible forms of contradiction that can occur in thought. They may be contradictory in reference to one another or their own contents, as is the case with the compound forms, especially the seventh. It will be noticed that the first three of these forms are simple judgments or predications, and the remaining four, their compounds, or combinations, formed by combining the simple statements in different ways. The first three are also the possible modes of predication in human speech ; for wher, talking we only talk about some thing or object, and in talking about an object or thing we either affirm something about it or deny something with reference to it, or say that it is incomprehensible altogether, which means that it presents, at one and the same time, the two contrary aspects of existence and non-existence, which make it impossible absolutely either to affirm or deny its being. To illustrate, the world is unperishing and eternal with reference to its substances ; it is perishing and non-eternal with reference to the forms that the substances assume from time to time; and it is incomprehensible, or rather indescribable, when taken into consideration with respect to its dual constituents, namely, substance and form, both. For, when we think of both substance and form at the same time the world presents to the view both perishability as well as unperishingness at once, and as there is no word in our language except indescribability that can represent the existence-non-existence thought that rises uppermost in the mind at the time, we must say that it is indescribable. These three--affirmance, denial and indescribability--then, are the three simple forms of predication in human speech. Their combinations give rise to four other forms which have been enumerated at numbers 4 to 7 in the list given above. It may be pointed out that the distinction between simultaneous affirmance and denial and in what is put down as affirmance+denial is rather important; for in the former the view is held simultaneously from both the standpoints (e.g., the reference to substance and form in the example of the world), while in the latter there is a summing up only of the results obtained by viewing things successively from the two view-points.

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96 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES 66 The Jaina metaphysician is warned against falling into error by the mere appearance of contradiction in form; for, as is evident from the illustration regarding the nature of the world, not all contradictions are real. In order to constitute a real contradiction the affirmance and denial will both have to proceed from the same standpoint. For instance, of the statements A is dead" and "A is not dead," when they proceed from the same standpoint, one, or may be both are bound to be false, for it cannot well be that A is both alive and dead, when the question of his death is considered from one and the same point of view. But when taken from different standpoints, there is no necessary contradiction involved in them; for A may be dead as A, but not dead from the point of view of the soul which is immortal. For this reason the student of metaphysics in Jainism is advised to mentally insert the word syat (literally, in some way) before every statement of a fact that he comes across, to warn him that it has been made from one particular point of view, which he should engage himself to discover. In this way he is not frightened by the contradictions he sometimes encounters in the course of his study, and is not baffled by them. In other words, where an untrained novice is likely to lose his head in dumb-founding bewilderment produced by such seemingly irreconcilable statements as the world is nitya-anitya," and to spurn or to turn away from the truth, the Syadvadist, that is to say, the Jaina Metaphysician, is sure to acquire the true insight into the nature of things, and, ultimately, also, mastery over the empire of nature, inasmuch as knowledge is power whereby men have subdued and are now subduing nature! ((

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THE ORIGIN OF JAINISM IT would have afforded no little amusement to Buddha, if he could have foreseen what some of the moderns have said about the relationship between Jainism and the faith he himself founded about 2,500 years ago. This is what Dr. Gour says of this relationship, in 'para 331 of his Hindu Code: "Jainism claims to be the precursor of Buddhism, but it is only its child. It is in reality a compromise between Buddhism and Hinduism, an adaptation made by those who could not receive the new faith, but who nevertheless found refuge in a creed, which, while retaining its traditional connection with Hinduism, has borrowed from Buddhism its doctrines and religious practice." For his authority Dr. Gour relies upon Mountstuart Elphinstone, who said :--- The Jainas appear to have originated in the sixth or seventh century of our era; to have become conspicuous in the eighth or ninth century, got to the highest prosperity in the eleventh, and declined after the twelfth." 66 But today no one subscribes to this view, and it is frankly conceded by European research that it is erroneous (see the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VII, p. 465). That being so, I need not discuss it in detail or multiply authorities against it. I shall merely content myself by quoting Buddha himself, whose authority should be conclusive on the subject. In one of his famous discourses, he said: 'There are, brethren, certain recluses (Achelkas, Ajivikas, Niganthas, etc.), who thus preach and believe: Whatsoever an individual experiences, whether it be happy, or painful, or neutral feeling, all has been caused by previous actions. And thus from the cancelling of old actions by tapas, and by abstaining from doing new 97 7 66

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98 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES actions, there is no influx into future life; by this non-influx Karma is destroyed and so ill is destroyed, and so all pain will become worn away. This, brethren, is what the Niganthas say... Is it true, I asked them, that you believe and declare this?... They replied Our leader, Nataputta [Mahavira], is all-wise... out of the depth of his knowledge he tells us: ye have done evil in the past. This ye do wear away by this hard and painful course of action. And the discipline that here and now, by thought, word, and deed is wrought, is a minus quantity of bad Karma in future life. Thus all Karma will eventually be worn away and all pain. To this we assent" (Majjhima ii, 214 ff; cf. i. 238). The Encyclo. R. & E. Vol. II. p. 70. Here Buddha clearly refers to (i) Paramatman Mahavira, (ii) the Jainas and (iii) the most important of all the Jaina claim that Paramatman Mahavira was all-knowing. And it was not mere idle curiosity, unproductive of tangible results, that led Buddha to seek an interview with the Nigantha (Jainas). He was fired by the ambition to acquire that all-wisdom which he had seen in the omniscient Teacher. His life thereafter was moulded accordingly. When enfeebled and almost worn away by tapas (asceticism) which did not lead to the sought-for enlightenment, he said : Not by this bitter course of painful hardships shall I arrive at that separate and supreme vision of all-sufficing noble (Aryan) knowledge passing human ken. Right there be not another path to enlightenment?" (Encyclo. R. &. E. Vol. II. p. 70.) These two extracts furnish conclusive evidence of the following facts: 1. That Paramatman Mahavira was a real historical being, and not a myth: 46 2. That he was a contemporary of Buddha; 3. That the claim as to the omniscience of Paramatman Mahavira was openly made by the Jainas, whose religion teaches that every soul is endowed with potential omniscience, which is fully developed when it is about to obtain Nirvana; 4. That Buddha was fired by the example of the Great Master to acquire that all-wisdom which he described in the most glowing terms

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THE ORIGIN OF JAINISM that separate and supreme vision of all-sufficing Aryan knowledge passing human ken; 5. That Buddha knew that it could be acquired by tapas, and performed severe austerities for its acquisition ; 6. That tapas, leading to no useful results in his case, he did not give up, but determined, if possible, to seek his ideal in some other way. Buddha had thus no manner of doubt about that separate and supreme vision of all-sufficing Aryan knowledge passing human ken. It was a certainty for which he performed the severest austerities for years, and from the pursuit of which even enfeeblement, emaciation and repeated failure combined, could not keep him away! Buddha must have actually seen the Tirthamkara himself or some other omniscient Jaina Teacher to have acquired this certainty. It may be added that there was no one else whose example could have fired Buddha's imagination in this way, for none claimed then to be omniscient outside Jainism. It is also interesting to note that in the Anguttara Nikaya (iii. 74) Abhaya, a prince of the Lichchavis of Vaisali, refers to the Jaina affirmation of ability to attain to full knowledge and to annihilate Karmas, old and new, by means of austerity (see the Outlines of Jainism,' p. xxxi). I think, not one word more is needed from me to demonstrate the utter falsehood of the position taken by Mountstuart Elphinstone and Dr. H. S. Gour.

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TWO MISCONCEPTIONS THE HE two points on which the greatest confusion has prevailed amongst modern thinkers, concerning Jainism, are its origin and the doctrine of sallekhana, which is deemed to encourage suicide. As to the first of these points it was held at one time, not very long ago, by early Orientalists that Jainism was an offshoot of Buddhism, and arose about the sixth century A.D. with the decline of that faith in India, and after attaining to the highest prosperity in the twelfth century, fell itself into decline thereafter. Today hardly any one can be found who will endorse that view. For a vast literature has been discovered which leaves no room for doubt as to the existence of Jainism prior to Buddhism. Some thinkers now hold that it was founded by Mahavira, a senior contemporary of Gotama Buddha. the world-famous founder of Buddhism. But the better-informed investigators do not accept this view, and are inclined to hold that Jainism was flourishing long before Mahavira. Some hasty thinkers, however, even today hold it to have risen, as a dissenting creed, from Hinduism, and to have been founded by Parasvanath, the twenty-third Tirthamkara, according to the Jaina enumeration. These writers, of course, hold the earlier Tirthamkaras, beginning with Rishabha Deva, the first, to be purely imaginary beings. But it is a mistake to suppose that the Jainas are Hindu dissenters or that Jainism arose with Mahavira. Had that been so, the Hindus would never have said about it that it was founded by Rishabha Deva, the son of Nabhiraja, who was the third manu. The Hindu teaching about the manus is that there are fourteen of them, and they appear at the commencement of creation. This is simply fatal to the notion that Jainism was founded by Mahavira, or by Parasvanath who preceded Mahavira by 250 years, within the historical times. The Hindu conceptions of creation, manus and the like may or may not be correct, scientific or adequate, but the fact remains-and it is an important fact that the Hindus know of no other personage than 100

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101 Rishabha Deva as the founder of Jainism. Had Jainism been established by Mahavira, or Parasvanath, they would be sure to know it, and, instead of confirming the Jaina tradition about the origin of their religion, would have flatly contradicted it as untrue. As Stevenson says in his "Kalpa Sutra and Nava Tattva," the Hindus and Jainas agree so rarely with each other that we cannot afford to refuse credence to their agreement when it is actually reached on any point. I think this much is quite sufficient to show that Jainism really originated in this cycle of time with Rishabha Deva, and that there is absolutely no reason to discredit the tradition about the other Tirthamkaras. Of course, it is not possible to adduce strict historical proof of things that took place beyond two thousand and eight hundred years ago, but there are really no adequate grounds for disbelieving the Jaina tradition in this regard, especially as it is confirmed by the Hindu account concerning the existence of the very first Tirthamkara. It will be noticed that it has never been the Hindu case that the Jainas are Hindu dissenters. This wonderful discovery was reserved to be made by the learned of the twentieth century! If any one will go through what I have said on the subject in my "Jaina Law," he will soon be convinced of the error involved in the view. I have no time to go into an intricate question like this in this short note, but I will sum up the entire argument in a single sentence: on the hypothesis of the allegorical exegesis of the Vedas, Jainism becomes the source of Hinduism; but if we reject that undoubtedly correct supposition, then there is absolutely nothing in common left between Jainism and Hinduism, so that the one cannot have sprung from the other by any possibility! The other point is whether Jainism encourages suicide. If the modern investigator would only read what is written, in bold letters and clear language, in one of the Jaina Sastras on the subject, he would find ample food for reflection there. This is how the passage (rendered in English) runs :--- TWO MISCONCEPTIONS .. Bhaktapratyakhyana marana is not proper for him who has many years of saintly life before him, who has no fear of starvation from a great famine, who is not afflicted by an incurable disease, and who is not faced by any sudden cause of death.

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102 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Whoever desires to put an end to his life while still able, with his body, to observe the rules of the dharma and of the order properly, he falls from the true path!" (See the Bhagavati Aradhana.) There is no question here of a recommendation to commit suicide or of putting an end to one's life at one's sweet will and pleasure, when it appears burdensome or not to hold any charm worth living for. The true idea of sallekhana only is this that when death does appear at last one should know how to die, that is, one should die like a man, not like a beast, bellowing and panting and making vain efforts to avoid the unavoidable! Had the modern thinker read anything of the true science of Religion he would have known that the soul is a simple substance and as such immortal. Death is only for compounds, whose dissolution is termed disintegration, and death, when it has reference to a living organism, that is a compound of spirit and matter. By dying in the proper way will is developed, which is a great asset for the future life of the soul, which, as a simple substance, will survive the bodily dissolution and death. If anyone will take the trouble to enquire into the nature of the numerous samadhis (small shrines) which are still to be found in different parts of India, he will soon discover that all kinds of sadhus, Jainas and non-Jainas both, have tried to attain to the higher form of death. In Hinduism, too, the injunction is clearly given in the Manu Smriti where one may read : "On the appearance of some incurable disease and the like, facing north-east and maintaining himself only on water and air, and established firmly in yogic contemplation, he should move steadily onwards till the body falls down. This mode of dying termed mahaprasthana, is the one enjoined in the scripture. Therefore, it is forbidden to die in contravention of the prescribed form!" It is therefore quite wrong to accuse Jainism of encouraging suicide, or of being the only 'culprit' in this regard !

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" DOGS WITH WINGS" I NDER the above caption THE MAN IN THE STREET writes in one of the English dailies : " There are few of us who have not at some time spent a million pounds or so- in our day dreams. Most of it, I fear, goes on steam yachts, country mansions, and such-like vanities, but we sometimes devote a few hundred thousand, to philanthropic ends before waking up with a cold in the head, caught through sitting too near our overdraft. In these benevolent moods we are apt to conceive fantastically idealistic schemes, but I doubt if even the most imaginative has thought of anything so bizarre as an idea which has entered the brainbox of a real honest-to-goodness millionaire, hight Arjun Lalshet. This wealthy Hindu, belonging to the Jain sect, which is strenuously opposed to killing, has purchased an entire village near Baroda and turned it into a 'dogs' city, 'to wean away dogs from their habit of killing. No animal food is given to the inhabitants. Puppies are brought up on semolina fried in clarified butter, and when they attain doghood are given wheat bread. All mice holes are stopped lest they tempt canine citizens from the pure lives they are being trained to lead, and the Jaina hopes by these means to bring up a breed of "civilised " dogs from whom the killing instinct has been eradicated. If any reader who has day-dreamed himself into a millionaire has ever thought of a more fantastic manifestation of idealism I'll eat one of Mr. Winston Churchill's hats. Doubtless Arjun Lalshet means well, but what a waste of wealth and energy this scheme will seem to those of us who like " a dog as is a dog." And where, 0 where, will this organised opposition to the doctrine of the survival of the fittest end ? By stuffing up mice holes our well-meaning opponent of killing may be dooming thousands of mice to death by starvation. Again. by protecting the mice from their natural enemies and depriving the 103

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104 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES dogs of opportunities for exercising their natural skill as hunters, he may be responsible for bringing into existence a new and terrifying breed of mice which will proceed to eat the dogs. Ideals may be desirable mental furniture or they may be merely so much useless and inartistic bric-a-brac. Too often they fall into the latter class. If Arjun Lalshet, instead of trying to breed a race of vegetarian dogs, set about larnin 'fleas, wasps and mosquitoes to become uncompromising vegetarians, those of us who during the summer were almost butchered to make a mosquitoes' holiday might agree that there was some sense in his eccentricity ; but I suppose an idealist like this gentle Hindu would resent such a suggestion as being altogether too practical." The Man in the Street. To The Editor of the Dear Sir, My attention has been drawn by an English friend of mine to an article which appeared in the Daily * * * in the beginning of the second week of this month -- probably the 9th instant--and which sought to cast ridicule on the work of a Jaina millionaire who is said to have set apart a village of his estate for the benefit of animals including dogs. The gentleman in question is not known to me ; and the name as given in the Daily *** is an unlikely one. Probably the real name of the Indian millionaire is Arjun Lal Seth (or Sethi) and not Arjun Lalshet. I am quite prepared to recognize the editorial right to make comments of all kinds in a journal, but I am inclined to take the view that you were not quite correctly informed of the real facts, and that much of what was written was really written under a great deal of misapprehension. I should have thought that there was nothing ridiculous in a Jaina philanthropist's founding a place of rest for animals. The other day I read in one of the English dailies that a certain English lady had made arrangements for the founding of a sanatorium, Spa and hospital for animals. It would appear that a place known as St. Swithin's

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DOGS WITH WINGS 105 Farm near Ilford and about 30 acres of the surrounding meadowlands have been purchased for the purpose, and the buildings are now being actually transformed into those required for the aforesaid work of mercy. I do not know whether the arrangement will meet with the approval of the = * * or not : but if it should, the only difference between it and the work of the Jaina philanthropist would be that in regard to the religion or nationality of the founders, the one being a Christian and the other a Jaina, the one an English woman, the other but a native of India ! But there is the other charge against this Indian friend of the duinb brute, namely, that he is trying to teach the principles of vegetarianism to the canine fraternity. Perhaps, Mr. Editor, you are rot a vegetarian yourself, and so I will not now enter into the broader question that concerns itself with the issue between vegetarianism and meat-eating : but will merely content myself by asking you whether sou thought it possible for a man who regarded flesh as poison for the soul and its use as cruel and inhumane, and who would not touch it himself on any account, to feed his animals on it? If he would not sanction the slaughtering of an animal for his own use, would you expect him to do so to feed his dogs ? I am a Jaina myself, and would, if my circumstances permitted it, feel proud to do what Mr. Arjun Lalshet of your article has done even though I may be told subsequently that a not quite unfriendly English Journal was likely to regard my action as a mad attempt to induce animals to adopt a vegetarian menu. I am writing this because I feel that there is need to vindicate the humanitarian motive of a Jaina benefactor, and also because I did not quite like the way in which the editorial pen of an increasingly popular Journal, like the ...... had glided in this instance. I am sure you will not* find it in your heart to refuse me space for this. * I regret to have to record that the worthy editor did actually find it in his heart to refuse to publish the letter.

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ADVICE TO YOUNG JAINAS THE one thing which I want Jaina young men to note is that success and prosperity are fair damsels that may not be wooed except by the "brave." Certainly good things are not to be had by begging, whether that art be practised with a gentle persuasive tongue or resort be had to importunity and clamour. As the proverb has it, if wishes could bide beggars would ride'; and even if wishes did bide once by an enviable fluke, we should certainly lose again, through sheer incapacity and lack of talent, what luck had placed in our hands that way. Efficiency, fitness, competency, then, are the qualities which lead to greatness and insure its abiding. Everyone who wishes success to crown his efforts must, therefore, acquire efficiency. In politics also efficiency must precede swarajya. Statecraft is like water which will drown and destroy everyone who is not an expert swimmer. No doubt, swimming cannot be learnt, if you are not allowed to approach water; but it would be madness to insist on being thrown in the midst of a raging sea for that reason! As for the question, how are you to acquire the mastery over the sea, when you are not allowed to approach it? well, you must perfect yourself in the dirty pools and puddles in your village, if a military cordon be placed on the seashore. The problem, then, in the first instance, is not how to acquire swarajya, but how to become efficient? Now, political efficiency means national efficiency, which, in its turn signifies individual efficiency, because politics is the science which governs the relations of nations with one another, and nations are but composed of individuals having a common aspiration and purpose. Individual efficiency in itself includes and implies: 1. a strong, healthy, energetic body, 2. a powerful mind capable of knowing its own good, 3. an iron will that adheres to what is right and despises every kind of failing, and 106

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ADVICE TO YOUNG JAINAS 107 4. general practical knowledge of the world including expert scientific familiarity with the particular department or departments of life with which one happens to be chiefly concerned. Of these four principal factors of efficiency, the first will enable us to hold our own against brute force; the second is the very foundation and source of all knowledge, including all the numerous specialised departments of crafts and arts and all other forms of learning falling under the fourth head; and the third is the most indispensable requisite for true excellence and greatness in every walk of life, be it spiritual or material. As you know well the Jainas have always been noted in the past for their unrivalled excellence in all things to which they applied their hand; but then they did not marry in their childhood, nor when unable to support a family; nor did they live on harmful irritating foods and condiments, e.g., chillies, 'acids' and the like. Our forefathers had also a great respect for the softer sex, and the Jaina tradition has made us familiar with the lives of a great many fair ones noted for their learning and wisdom. But if the term Jaina was a synonym in the past for all that is most excellent and best, it was because the Jainas had made it so by their excellent living. If we would rise to the eminence attained by our glorious ancestors in the past, we should get out of the ungainly 'cattledom ' - slovenly boorish manners, thoughtless stupid actions, dirty habits, e.g., spitting anywhere and everywhere, and the like which has come over us. But this can only be achieved by the curbing of desires and the practising of self-denial. Self-denial, it will be seen, is the true satyagraha and the key to success; and it will never fail. Going on strike, or standing idle, irritatingly, to obstruct progress, may be non-co-operation, but it is not self-training for efficiency. Shall self-denial lead us to power ? Yes, it will! How ? By making us efficient in every way and respected on all hands ! On the other hand, can you, in these days of soulless statesmanship, expect aught but Amritsar horrors and white-washing reports from and through impotent satyagrahi mobs ? The advocates of the brute force, might-is-right

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108 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES policy will again and again flout and shout down public opinion by their power to strike and strike hard, and in vain shall we search for a philanthropist from without to lay down the fourteen points of Equity and Law. Self-help, my friends, but not importunity, nor begging, nor the assassin's dagger, nor the revolutionary 's bomb, nor even the suicidal non-co-operation is the guiding principle for you. The aim is not to paralyse or to be crushed in retaliatory vengeance but to get on so that every day finds us nearer the goal in view. Is it a bitter pill that I ask you to swallow? Much of the bitterness of our lot is, however, caused through the hands of our own brethren, which should certainly cease if they refuse to be seduced from the path of duty through fear and favour. As for insults and humiliations, they seldom proceed from gentlemen, and as regards bullies and knaves, the cur that delights in teasing and terrifying small puppies immediately takes to fawning and cringing when brought face to face with superior force. And so far as injustice is concerned, that should be simply impossible where true satyagrahi doctrines, ahimsa (non-injuring others), truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and indifference to worldly goods are deeply inculcated in the mind. I should like to add that wealth eternally wedded to industry, hard work, and economy implied in self-denial, and cannot be long kept away from where they reside. There is much to be learnt and much more still to be unlearnt by you, before you may hope to be admitted into the Council of the great nations of the World. The most important thing to know in this connection is that you should henceforth try to stand on your own legs instead of seeking credit on the greatness of a glorious ancestry which others might or might not be willing to acknowledge. As for reform, there is hardly a department of our life that does not call for it urgently; but it will more than suffice generally to go back to the ancient Jaina ideal of a householder's life for true excellence. You must not in any case suffer yourselves to be denationalized, though you should endeavour, to the utmost of your power, to reform existing evil wherever necessary, checking, at the same time, the tendency of our educated young men to blindly imitate the civilization of the West which is too artificial and costly to enable any one to 19

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ADVICE TO YOUNG JAINAS live for long in peace. As regards our relations with the obstructionists, we should not forget that the tender sapling that would flourish among rocks must proceed by adapting itself to its environments, seeking, by gentle humility and meekness, to grow under the fostering care of the rocky giants that surround it, till, thus protected from sun and wind and rain, it is able at last to defend itself against all foes. The analogy is, however, not quite to the point, for with her teeming millions India is more like a roaring torrent rapidly approaching what may be termed the cross-roads of destiny, so that it already is something in the nature of a powerful factor in Imperial politics. Whether it become a tower of strength to the great empire to which it is anxious to be affiliated, or ever remain a source of trouble and weakness to it in the hour of danger and need, depends on the wisdom of the men who are entrusted with the work of building and upkeep of Britain's power. For your own part, however, whether British statesmen win your hearts by a liberal policy of goodwill and fair play, or prove themselves unsympathetic and unfriendly towards your legitimate ideals and aspirations, you must always keep the example of the young sapling before you, so that you should be always growing and growing strong, whoever the men in charge of Imperial affairs and whatever their policy towards you. A strong body, a strong mind and a strong will added to hard work and industry will, then, suffice to usher a millennium of Peace and Plenty which you should aim at introducing under the aegis of the Union Jack, taking it not merely as the flag of a great sea-faring nation that now holds you in subjection, but as the Standard of Union for all races of men, that is, as the Victory Banner of the great Brotherhood of all those noble souls who live on true Jaina principles whatever be their outward denomination and garb. I wish that you should be the people to take up this Standard of Peace and Joy and to carry it to all the races of men on earth, marching not in the wake of fire and death with which the standards of great nations are nowadays so much associated, but in that of Duty and Dharma, as the messenger of our Lord, Paramatman Mahavira, to spread the joy-giving gospel of Life-AHIMSA PARAMO DHARMAH (non-injury is the highest religion)-to every nook and corner of the World. i 109

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA* SISTERS AND BRETHREN, * * * I now pass on to a consideration of the main part of my subject. Religion is derived from re, back, and ligo, to bind, and means a binding back to. But a binding back to what? Some one perhaps may say to God, but the mind wants to know why it should take the trouble of binding itself back to God? Who is this God to whom it should bind itself, and why? Might not one say in reply: 'I find it more agreeable to eat and drink and enjoy other bodily pleasures which the world affords, than follow religion and renounce all the joys which I can extract from my surroundings. Surely this is a rational argument, and religion has got to meet it in order to sus tain its claim. Religion takes the objector at his own word, and asks him as to the nature of the joy which he claims to derive from the world. Let us take an instance to analyse the philosophy of the pleasures of the world. Suppose there is a dainty dish of which I am very fond and which, when I partake of it, gives me immense satisfaction. The question is: Is the pleasure, the satisfaction, or the joy, which I derive from partaking it, in the thing, that is, the dish, or elsewhere? When I analyse my feelings I am compelled to hold that the 'dish' itself cannot be the source of joy, since I do not enjoy it on a full stomach, nor when unwell. I also notice that what one man likes does not please everybody, for instance, the pan, which the Indian taste considers agreeable, is an abomination to the majority of Europeans. I now ask myself as to the why of these differences. If the food is the source of pleasure, why is it that it does not give pleasure at all times alike? Again, why is it that some of us find that utterly unpalatable which is a source of pleasure to others? When I turn the problem in my mind in all its bearings, I find that it is not in the * The abridged text of an address read at the Syadavada Mahavidyalaya Anniversary at Kashi, 110

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA 111. food that the sense of pleasure, or joy, lies but in my inclinations, that is, my mind. This is further borne out by the fact that many things, when they are taken for the first time, are found to be quite disagreeable in their nature, as, for instance, is the case with smoking ; but, when persisted in, there comes a time when the mind becomes accommodating enough to long for them. The things here also remain the same; it is the mind which accommodates itself sufficiently to like them. From these facts we are entitled to conclude that the pleasures of taste are not in the food which we eat, but in the mind ; and the same argument serves our purpose to prove that the case with the other senses cannot be any different. Besides, if pleasures or joys existed in the world outside myself, they could only pass through the media of the senses ; but I never feel pleasure or joy passing through my senses, but only matter, in some form or other. I further notice that pleasures are short-lived and depend on the actual contact with the particles of matter, or, if you prefer it that way, on the actual contact between the mind and the vibrations from the objects of the material universe. Hence, music is delightful only so long as it is heard, food is agreeable only so long as it is being eaten, and so forth. That mind itself sometimes produces agreeable sensations is no proof that these pleasures are lasting, in any sense of the word ; on the contrary, it proves that the mind is capable of giving rise to the identical sensations, when excited by internal causes, and quite independently of the objects of the senses. There is also the other aspect of the sensual pleasures to be taken into consideration. They are not only short-lived but also the source of worry and trouble to the individual. If I like a thing, I long to get it more and more; hence if my means and other circumstances do not permit my doing so, I feel miserable. Moreover, my search for the objects of sensual pleasures brings me in conflict, very often, with men who have the same objects in view, and thus makes me fight for them. But I cannot always hope to emerge triumphantly from these fights. When I grow old and my body is rendered unfit to enjoy the pleasures of the senses, I groan in actual misery, for the longing is there but minus the capacity for gratification. The question is : Do I care for such enjoyments only as the senses can afford

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112 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES me, or is there any other kind of enjoyment which would satisfy my natural craving for joy? I had better say at once that I cannot afford to be a cynic and pretend to a sense of disgust with the subject, for aimlessness is the worst malady which man can suffer from, and cynicism directly leads to it. Here, also, analysis reveals that all conscious activity is the outcome of willing, and all willing depends upon desire, and every form of desire indicates some sort of ideal in the mind which it tries to achieve. It matters not whether one runs after money, or name, or fame, or learning, or religion, or anything else; the aim is sure enough behind each and every kind of pursuit: and this aim which the individual tries to attain, in its ultimate analysis, shows itself to be nothing other than the pursuit of happiness. I run after money, because I fancy it will be of use to me in keeping me in comfort and in avoiding pain; I seek fame because it gives me pleasure, and so forth. I conclude, therefore, that the aim of all living beings is the avoidance of pain and the attainment of happiness. In a word, each of us seeks that kind of happiness, which will have no painful reaction and on the attainment of which there will be no necessity for anything else. Before we go somewhat deeper into the subject, I wish to make it quite clear that money and the other things and objects of the world cannot be the ideal in themselves, for they are, ex hypothesi, only means to an end, not the end in itself. The ideal is happiness,-- unchanging, undying, unabating happiness; money, fame, etc., are only material things or relations, which, though, at times, capable of affording temporary relief and gratification, cannot implicitly be relied upon to render us happy under all circumstances. What, then, is happiness itself, in search of which all conscious beings are constantly engaged in this world? Let us analyse the idea of joy to understand its full significance. To begin with, we must distinguish between pleasure and joy. The former is merely a gratification of the senses, hence, fleeting and short-lived, some delight lasting for a time and then ceasing. The word pleasure, when unqualified, expresses less happiness than joy or delight. Pleasure is sensual, but joy is an emotion, and has the

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA 113 element of freedom in it. It is a state of gladness, or exultation, and indicates exhilaration of spirits. In religious terminology it signifies a state of being at once glorious and triumphant, as in the passage: "Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross." In order to have a perfect comprehension of the idea of joy, we must consider some actual instance in which it arises, so that we may be able to perceive and understand its proper significance. A schoolboy who has appeared in his annual examination and is anxiously awaiting the result, hears of his success suddenly, and feels joy at the news. This is common knowledge, but the question is: what changes his previous state of anxiety into that of joy? In other words, whence arises the exhilaration of spirits in him? Reflection here shows that it is not the news itself, nor the news of the success, but the certainty of his success which is clearly the occasion for his joy. For if the news be not authentic, the proper feeling of exultation cannot be evoked, notwithstanding the highly agreeable nature of the information. Joy, then, is a state of the mind which has its root in mental conviction, in other words, in Faith. Pleasure, it will be seen at a glance, does not depend on faith at all, for it is not an emotion and does not spring from mental conviction. Again, the boy feels joyous solely and simply because something lasting has been achieved, for he is assured that he shall not have to appear for that particular examination any more in the future. His 6 bondage in so far, at least, as that particular task was concerned, is now over for ever. Joy, thus, is an emotion which is manifested in consequence of some lasting and permanent good, i.e., by the removal of some fetters from the soul. The idea of pleasure cannot here keep pace, in any sense, with that of joy; for while true joy is the sense of a permanent freedom from some irksome liability, or limitation, and, for that reason, an emotion, pleasure is only temporary, and conveys no idea of freedom in its unqualified import. Whether we apply this principle to the case of the merchant who accumulates a vast fortune, to that of the field-marshall who, laden with the booty and honours of the war, retraces his steps homewards, to the lover who hears the softly-whispered yes' from the lips of 8 "

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114 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES his beloved, or to any other case of success, the effect is the same. In each and every instance the emotion of joy springs up in consequence of a belief that never again need the same thing be striven for. The sense of freedom from future straining and striving, therefore, is the direct cause of joy. Man in the world is like a big schoolboy in a big school, and has to pass many examinations in his life. At each examination, which he passes successfully, some fetters are removed from his soul, so he feels joy at the idea of his increasing freedom; and his heart grows light and his soul leaps with exaltation of spirits. As the schoolboy puts his books aside on leaving his school, so will he put aside his discriminative intellect on leaving the world, if he has been successful in his studies. Can we, then, possibly form a correct estimate of the intensity of the emotion of joy, when our 'schoolboy' not only masters all the learning that there is to be taught in our worldly schools but, exhausting all the categories of the discriminative intellect, masters that faculty itself? Who can gauge the depth of the feeling or rather the emotion of freedom, which such an one who has mastered all knowledge and annihilated all doubts will feel in his emancipated state? That state is surely beyond the intellect, for it is emotional, and the intellect does not aspire to deal with emotions. It can only be described feebly by language, which avowedly follows the intellect, and symbolizes its concepts in words. Hence, the utmost that can be said in describing bliss is that it is a beatific state of being in which joy wells up in the soul as wave upon wave of pure ecstasy, in unceasing succession, which, yet, is no succession, in the sense in which that word is commonly used by us, for our worldly expression. From the foregoing analysis it must be obvious that pure joy is a state of consciousness which is not created temporarily by the absorption of any external material, but which is inherent in the very nature of the soul, for it comes into manifestation by the removal of fetters from it. Now, the permanent success of man in some particular enterprise removes the idea of want from the soul and lifts it up, as it were, from the slough of despond into which it was thrown by virtue of the desire for that particular thing. Its fetters, thus, consist of the ideas of want, i.e., desires, which it has collected about itself, and as

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA 115 each idea of want or desire is replaced by one of fulness, or success, it rises triumphant and exultant in its real inherent glory and leaps for pure joy. Desires owe their origin to ignorance. Led by ignorance, the soul seeks joy in the things of the world, whereas the emotion of bliss is its birthright and svabhava (nature), which is realizable and realized only when the darkness of ignorance is dispelled. Our analysis has thus led us, step by step, to a self which is allblissful and joyous. Grief and pain are, therefore, not the nature of the self, but only temporary states of being. That this is so is further obvious from the fact that they are not lasting, and also, because they vanish when the mind is engaged in something more absorbing than the causes which gave them rise. It is for this reason tha they both disappear in deep sleep. We are now prepared to answer the question with which we started our investigation, namely, why should one be religious ? Religion, as has been said before, is the science which enables the individual to bind himself to a Self which is all freedom, all bliss and all joy. Hence, he who would like to enjoy eternal, unabating, undying, happiness cannot afford to reject religion, but must follow it, till he can remove all the fetters from his soul which are keeping it down like a captive balloon. But who is this Self, whose nature is bliss and blessedness, and where is it to be found ? Let us once more study ourselves, though not from the point of view of sensual pleasure this time. The question is : what am I ? Outwardly the eye falls on the physical matter of the body, which is jara or ajiva, that is unthinking, unmoving and unfeeling. I know this because I know that a dead body has all these characteristics. But I also know that the living body is not jara or ajiva. Hence arises the important question: What is this thinking, active, feeling principle which enables my body to perform all the functions characteristic of a living human being ? The materialist says that consciousness is the outcome of a particular kind of molecular grouping of matter, that the brain secretes the mind as the liver secretes bile. Can this be true? If the materialist is right, then I am only a machine although a thinking one. But I am forced to reject this idea, because I know that no machine is capable hailoon

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116 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES of the functions which I perform. Let your machine, my dear materialist, be as nicely balanced as you like, let it be of as fine a material as you choose, let it be capable of registering and recording the finest movements going on around it, --let all this be granted once for all, yet is it inconceivable that it should ever feel pleasure or pain, direct its own energy into particular channels of activity, express satisfaction when its work is done for the day, or anger if thwarted in carrying out its own resolves. It is impossible to explain anything of the facts of consciousness, the phenomena of feeling, willing and memory, on a mechanical hypothesis of the body. I can no more imagine the brain, formed of dead unconscious matter, deliberating over the affairs of the day, than I can conceive of a steam-engine thinking to itself that it ought to have tea and toast instead of the coal and water it always gets! How can a consciousness which is generated afresh every moment, remember what its predecessors thought, or felt, years ago ? I, therefore, come to the conclusion that the thinking, feeling and willing principle in me is not the material body, or the brain, but something which is associated with it, and whose conjunction, during life, is the cause of the phenomena, which, as we have just seen, materialism is unable to explain with its dead matter and unconscious force. I am, then, consciousness itself. But whence came my association with the body of physical matter? Did my parents make it? Oh, no, for they cannot make another's body if they want to. Perhaps some god or goddess forced ine into the body? But I have to reject this possibility also, for if a god did so in my case, he must be doing so in the case of every other being in the universe ; but this is absurd, for I am assured that he gets very angry if people violate certain social rules about the marital relations. Hence, he cannot be credited with the creation of the bodies of children born of fornication and adultery, else we would be attributing inconsistency to him. In other words, we cannot imagine that he fructifies the very act which he unequivocaliy condemns. Therefore, if a god. cannot be credited with the making of the body of a child of fornication, he cannot also be said to be the author of the bodies of those that are born in lawful wedlock. Thus, there is no one left except

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA 117 I myself to create my own body. Does it seem strange that I should make my body ? Very little thinking would suffice to show that there is nothing wonderful in this seemingly miraculous power of mine to make my body ; only remember that I am not the body but that which is associated with it, as has just been proved. Now listen as to how I make my body, and judge for yourselves if I am right in my assertion. The human body is an organism which is to be distinguished from a manufactured article, inasmuch as in the former, that is, the organism, the power that organises resides in the centre and builds the body from within, while the maker of the manufactured article stands outside it to make it. In other words, an organism, or a body, is organised from within, but a manufactured article is made from without. Hence, the power that organises exists prior to the act or the process of organisation, unlike the power of machinery which results from the combination of parts. Hence, I was in existence before I made my body. I may repeat that whoever made the body must have made it from within, and, therefore, must have been in the centre of the little microscopic streak of protoplasm which, by the absorption of nourishment, grew and developed in the mother's body. You may now say that a God made the body if you like, but the result is the same in either case ; for you will have to say that I am God myself, if you make that assertion, since non, but the maker of the body himself is ensouled in it. The next question is: why did I not make a better and more perfect body for myself, if I was bent on making one at all? The reply to this question at once brings us face to face with the problem of Karma. I did not make a more perfect body for myseif because my 'inclinations' only led me to make the present one. In subjection to the law of Karma, man is not an entirely free agent, but has to work out the effect of his previous actions. This Karma is a kind of force which holds the soul in bondage and prevents its knowing itself fully. There are many varieties of this force which are minutely described in our Books, perhaps more fully than elsewhere, in any other scripture. The bondage of Karma arises on account of individual tendencies, and the most predominant of these determine the type of the body, which the soul would make for itself in its future

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118 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES incarnation. The sum-total of these tendencies is what is called character ; and this character contains in itself the well-digested and assimilated experience of the entire past of the soul. Now if we would analyse the idea of a tendency, we would not fail to observe that it is the modification of the mind in particular ways. Perhaps the word karmic body would be more appropriate here in place of the mind, since character, in the sense in which I have here employed that word, means only that body. The modification of such a body can only be affected in two ways, that is, either by the removal of some particles from, or the addition of some others to its composition. Hence, the Jaina Books teach that the karmic force is a kind of matter, the particles of which have become combined with the soul. This explains the nature of the force which prevents the soul from realizing its own blissful nature. I need not take up your time in entering into further details of the karmic matter, and may at once pass on to a consideration of the process which enables the soul to escape from the bondage of its past karmas. From what has been already observed today, it is obvious that all that the soul has to do is to get rid of the particles of the karmapudgala (matter) which it has collected round itself. As soon as this is accomplished the soul is freed from all bondage and acquires perfect knowledge and bliss, which are the attributes of consciousness, which it (the soul) undoubtedly is. how this is to be accomplished may now be explained. This eliminating process is called Yoga which is the science which enables the soul to shake off the bondage of karma, by the development of its own will. We have already said that karma acts by modifying our tendencies, that is, the desires, passions, emotions, etc., etc., and a careful analysis discloses the fact that every tendency is but an inclination in a particular direction, that is to say, a longing for a particular kind of enjoyment, or a desire for particular objects. Hence, the bondage of karma is really the bondage of desires. When the soul desires particular kinds of enjoyment, its karma body becomes obsessed with the subtle particles corresponding to the material of the objects of those desires. The force which attracts and keeps these particles round the soul, is the force of its own will. Hence, also, the

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA 119 force which can eliminate them from the consciousness of the soul can be no other than its own will. No outside agency can, therefore, do anything for the soul except to point out that the power which can bring about its emancipation is latent within itself. It is for this reason that Jainas do not consider any one entitled to worship except those Perfect Ones who taught the Truth and the Right Path. But how is the will to be exerted ? Jainism points out that three things have to be acquired by the soul to accomplish its redemption. These are : 1. Right Faith without which, as we saw in our analysis of the emotion of pure joy, bliss cannot come into manifestation. 2. Right Knowledge, which would enable it to understand that its own nature is more blissful than that of anything else in the world, and would thus create a longing in the mind for its realization, and 3. Right Conduct, which really means the exertion of will in the right direction. This right direction means nothing more or less than the path which the Tirthamkaras trod and pointed out to their followers. It is the path which leads away from desires ; it is the road to bliss ! Renunciation of the objects of desire, the refusal to gratify the senses, the determination to turn the back resolutely on the attachments of the world, is what Right Conduct implies. As the entertainment of desires is the cause of the assimilation of the karma pudgala in the soul, so is the renunciation of desire the means to its elimination. And in proportion to the degree in which the will gather's strength to renounce the sense-attractions, does the inner glory or the soul shine forth through its inner bodies or sheaths, till rising higher and higher in respect of spirituality, it stands revealed as the all-knowing, all-perceiving, Sachchidananda, that is, the Holy Trinity of Existence, Knowledge and Bliss. Such, Sisters and Brethren, is the noble teaching of our sublime Faith. But it seems to me that all other rational religions contain, more or less, the same teaching. Lest some one carry away a wrong idea of the position of other creeds, I would like to add that, in my humble opinion, there is no ancient religion which is not grounded

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120 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES on a foundation of solid truth. The truth is there in each and every one of them, but hidden behind the veil of allegory, metaphor and symbolism, and in places also under misconception and inexactitude of thought. Jainism differs from them in this that it possesses a true and comprehensive explanation of the entire subject. It furnishes an explanation of every department of the great Science of Religion which would be fully acceptable to the most critical intellect of the day. Amongst the other creeds, Vedanta teaches more or less the same doctrine of the soul being its own God, though it differs from us in certain other respects, especially with regard to its conception of a solitary soul. Next comes Buddhism which is the doctrine of " negation" or "voidness." It does not, of course, recognize any permanent being or thing, and its nirvana is an empty concept. But it, too, endorses the teaching as to transmigration and karna. Of the remaining creeds, modern Christianity furnishes us with as good an instance as we can think of of a doctrine misunderstood. I am sure that the early Fathers of the Christian Church of the first three centuries after the birth of Christianity did possess the key to a true interpretation of their Faith. The more I have thought over the problem, the more convinced have I become that Christianity has a great deal in common with Jainism, notwithstanding the erroneous interpretation put upon its fundamental tenets by the modern Church. Here I may call your attention to a thoughtful observation of Schopenhauer, the great German philosopher of the last century. This erudite scholar has expressed himself to the following effect : Whatever we may say or think to the contrary, Christianity has the Indian blood in its veins.' While reading the Bible I could not help being struck with the close resemblance between our twenty-four Tirthamkaras and the four and twenty Spiritual Elders of the Apocalypse. In this brief survey of the different religions, now prevailing in the World, it has not been possible for me to go into detail, or to give reasons for my opinions, but I feel certain that Jainism alone can furnish the " Key of Knowledge" which will unlock the hidden secrets of these other religions, which, as I have said above, are all grounded on truth, though generally misunderstood. You will find renunciation of desire enjoined in each and every

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A PEEP BEHIND THE VEIL OF KARMA 121 religion, in one form or another; in some explicitly, in others, by necessary implication. It is in Jainism alone that full stress is laid on its daily practice. This one instance, in my opinion, will suffice to show you that the truth is there in every form of religion, worthy of that appellation, though its import is fully realized by those alone who possess the true key of interpretation. This key, I claim, is possessed by Jainism. Jainism explains,--and that in accordance with the most rigorous rules of good reason, --that every soul is essentially divine, and can become a Paramatman (God) if it chooses to exert itself in the right direction. It is true that it has to renounce the sense-enjoyments which the world affords, but it is not a renunciation of anything valuable, nor of anything worth clinging to. It is essentially and truly a renunciation of limitations ; it is a giving up of base and worthless substitutes ; it is a disclaimer of the things and relations and attachments, which actually tend to weaken us, and which prevent us from a realization of the joyous state of blessedness and bliss which is the nature of our souls. Should we be sorry to renounce the beggar's bowl of sense-attractions, if its throwing away would lead us to the possession of the untold wealth of perfection and joy in our own self? Ye, followers of the great Tirthamkaras, this is what your noble and ennobling Religion teaches. This is what your birth in the creed demands. Your past karmas were sufficiently pure to secure for you the present birth in this glorious creed ; you are already on the high road of Renunciation. Should you not gird up your loins for further conquests, and march fearlessly, bravely and resolutely on the path already opened out and illuminated by the worshipful feet of the Great Masters ? Let ine repeat that the birth in a Jaina family is the sign of the soul having already attained to a certain state of practical Renunciation. A Jaina's life, from the very moment of his birth, is one of giving up. He is born under circumstances which render the task of giving up easier of accomplishment. Ahimsa is the easiest of attainment by you, and this is a great advantage over your fellow-beings. Look around you, not despisingly, but pityingly, if you will, at other communities, see how steeped most of them are in himsa in its various forms. Are you not placed above them ? How hard it is for them to give up the animal flesh,

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122 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES the habit of drinking, and various other things from the contamination of which the very incident of birth in a Jaina household ensures your freedom? But great though the advantage of birth undoubtedly is in your case, its effect can be neutralized by inaction, or retrogression, on the path of adharma. I need not tell you what adharma means. I am not aware of any other religion which goes. so deeply into the question as Jainism does. Adharma is the tendency towards materialism. In a few words, Adharma signifies the influence of ignorance and passions from which the soul must free itself, if it wishes to come into its own. Our young men are in danger of being led on this path, in consequence of the materialistic education, which is forced upon them in modern schools and colleges; they fail to understand the higher teaching of Religion--I use this term in its broadest sense-and naturally cannot avail themselves of the great and coveted opportunity which the birth in a Jaina family puts within their reach. Should we keep our scriptures locked up in secret places, and prevent them from illumining the world? Or should we spread the light of the grandest and most perfect philosophy, the light of the noblest Religion in the world, and thereby help in the true edification of our own children as well as of our race? Look at the men and women of Europe and America, whose eagerness to understand the truth makes them travel thousands of miles, by land and sea; see how anxious they are to get hold of the genuine manuscripts of all religions. We ought to be fired with the same zeal. We should take up the sacred work of spreading the truth of our glorious religion ourselves, lest it receive unsympathetic treatment from the hands of those to whom its full understanding has not been vouchsafed as yet. I will not detain you any longer, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for the patience with which you have listened to this somewhat lengthy discourse. Sri Jaina Dharma ki jai

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THE GOSPEL OF IMMORTALITY AND JOY IT will undoubtedly be a great surprise to many of our non-Jaina friends to be told that Jainism is not an idolatrous creed and is as bitterly opposed to idol worship as the most iconoclastic religion in the world, yet the fact is as stated. The attitude of Jainism towards idolatry is evident from the following from the Ratna Karanda Sravakachura, a work of paramount authority, composed by Sri Samantabhadracharya, who flourished about the commencement of the second century A.D.:-- "Bathing in the so-called sacred rivers and oceans, setting up heaps of sand and stones (as objects of worship), immolating one-self by falling from a precipice or by being burnt up in fire (as in sati] are some of the common murhatis (superstitions or follies). The worshipping, with desire, to obtain favour of deities whose minds are full of personal likes and dislikes is called the folly of devotion to false divinity. Know that to be guru murhati which consists in the worshipping of false ascetics revolving in the wheel of samsara (births and deaths, i.e., transmigration), who have neither renounced worldly goods, nor occupations, nor himsii (causing injury to others)." This is sufficient authority for the view that Jainism strongly condemns fetish worship--the cult of rivers, stones and the like--- as well as devotion to human and super-human beings who have not eradicated their lower nature, that is to say, who are liable to be swayed by passion and by personal likes and dislikes. What, then, is the significance of the image-worship which takes place daily in our temples, and which is, undoubtedly, the cause of the false impression that has been formed by the non-Jainas concerning our faith? To explain the nature of the worship that is performed in our temples, it is necessary first of all to summarise the Jaina creed, which fully accounts for it. The Jainas believe that every soul is godly by nature and endowed with all those attributes of perfection

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124 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES which are associated with our truest and best conception of divinity. "These divine attributes-omniscience, bliss and the like -- are, how ever, not actually manifest in the case of the soul that is involved in transmigration, but will become so when it attains to nirvana. Nirvana implies complete freedom from all those impurities of sin which limit and curtail the natural attributes and properties of the soul. Accordingly, the Jainas aspire to become Gods by crossing the sea of samsara (births and deaths), and the creed they follow to obtain that devoutly wished-for consummation is the method which was followed by those who have already reached the goal in viewnirvana. It is this method which is known as Jainism, and the images that are installed in our temples are the statues or 'photos' of the greatest amongst those who have already reached nirvana and taught others the way to get there. They are called Tirtham karas, literally, the makers or founders of a tirtha, a fordable channel or passage (across the ocean of births and deaths). How did they cross the sea of samsara themselves? By curbing their fleshly lusts and by purifying and perfecting their souls. We, too, have got to tread the path they trod, if we would attain to the heights they have attained. In a word, the Tirthamkaras are models of perfection for our souls to copy and to walk in the footsteps of. Their Images are kept in the temples to constantly remind us of our high ideal, and to inspire us with faith and confidence in our own souls. As for Their worship, They have no desire to be worshipped by us: Their perfection is immeasurably greater than we can praise: They are full and perfect in Their wholeness. offer Them the devotion of our hearts, because in the initial stages of the journey, it is the most potent, if not the only means of making steady progress. We It is not mere hero-worship, though worship of a hero is transcendent admiration. As Carlyle put it, it is something more; we admire what we ourselves aspire to attain to. The great English thinker, Thomas Carlyle, tells us : "I say great men are still admirable. I say there is at bottom, nothing else admirable? No nobler feeling than this of admiration for one higher than himself

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IMMORTALITY AND JOY 125 dwells in the breast of man. It is to this hour, and at all hours, the vivifying influence in man's life... ... ... ...Hero worship endures for ever while man endures. Boswell venerates his Johnson, right truly even in the eighteenth century. The unbelieving French believe in their Voltaire; and burst out round him into very curious Hero-worship in that last act of his life when they stifle him under roses ............At Paris his carriage is the nucleus of a comet, whose train fills whole streets. The ladies pluck a hair or two from his fur, to keep it as a sacred relic.. There was nothing highest, beautifullest, noblest in all France that did not feel be higher, beautifuller, nobler............. It will ever be so. We all love great men; love, venerate and bow down submissive before great men; nay can we honestly bow down to anything else? Ah, does not every true man feci that he is himself made higher by doing reverence to what is really above him? No nobler or more blessed feeling dwells in man's heart. And to me it is very cheering to consider that no sceptical logic, or general triviality, insincerity and aridity of any time and its influences can destroy this noble in-born loyalty and worship that is in man............. It is an eternal corner-stone from which they can begin to build themselves up......... That man, in some sense or other, worships heroes, that we all of us reverence and must ever reverence Great Men, this is to me, the living rock amid all rushings down whatsoever." The italics are mine, and they speak for themselves. Even to-day men and women assemble, in thousands, in Trafalgar Square in London to do honour to a statue of stone that stands there ; they illuminate the whole neighbourhood ; they place garlands of flowers on the object of their adoration. Is it idolatry they practise ? Are they idolators ? No, no, such a thing is simply impossible ; no one can accuse the English of idolatry! It is not worshipping the block of stone; they ask nothing from it: they offer it no food, nor do they pray to it. If you look more closely into their 'statue worship you will find it to be the adoration of a something of which the figure is a symbol. It is not the statue of Nelson they assemble to worship, but the spirit of the brave man, the fearless sailor, who made England what she is to-day--the acknowledged Queen of the Seas. The English are a nation of sailors : take away their seapower, and they are gone. But for the glorious achievements of the British Navy, England would have been overrun by Germany today. The English know it, and pour forth, spontaneously, almost unconsciously, the warmest devotion of their free hearts on the one being who saved them from utter ruin in the past. But if Nelson

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126 himself was able to save England from destruction once, his inspiration has been her salvation not once, not twice but repeatedly. The great sailor is now dead; he may no longer command the fleet of England in the hour of danger; he may win no more laurels for himself or victories for his country; but his spirit and influence survive. For there is not a sailor lad in the whole of the United Kingdom who does not brighten up at the mention of Nelson's name, who does not reverently recognise him as a model of greatness for himself, who does not draw powerful inspiration from his life. The nation that placed the statue of this great man in a conspicuous part of the capital of their country knew they were not merely erecting a statue to the memory of a dead man, but laying the foundation stone of their own greatness for generations to come. Such is the true significance of 'Nelson-worship' which takes place on the Trafalgar Day annually. It is not idolatry that we can charge against the English, but idealatry, which, if a fault, is one that has been the source of unparalleled greatness to the culprit ! The Jaina form of worship is, similarly, an instance of idealatry, for devotion to God in Jainism only means devotion to the attributes of divinity which the devotee wishes to develop in his soul, and consists in the blending of the fullest measure of love and respect for those Great Ones who have evolved out those very attributes to perfection in their own case. The Jainas ask for nothing from their Tirthamkaras; no prayers are ever offered to Them, no are They supposed to be granting boons to Their devotees. They are not worship ped because worship is pleasing to Them, but because it is the source of the greatest good-the attainment of godly perfection to our owr souls. As said in the Key of Knowledge, the causal connection between the ideal of the soul and the worshipping of Those who have already realized it is to be found in the fact that the realization of an ideal demands one's whole-hearted attention, and is only possible by following in the footsteps of those who have actually reached the same goal. It is this idea which a great English poet has immortalized ir the following words :-- ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES "Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime

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The daily puja (worship) and prakshala (bathing) of the pratibimbas (statues of the Holy Tirthamkaras are the source of much good; they tend to strengthen one's faith at the same time as they enable merit to be acquired by the withdrawal of the mind from the attachments and concerns of the world and by its being directed to the true side of Life. The whole scheme of worship in Jainism is that from the moment one sets one's foot in the temple till the time of one's departure from it, one should be constantly accumulating merit and the increase of piety and Dh irma. The objection: how can an inanimate object like an image of metal, or stone, be the cause of so much good? is met by the paraole of the dead harlot propounded in the Parasva Purana. The deceased courtesan, in the parable, was a woman of remarkable beauty and of great personal charms, and as her body lay on the ground three living beings, a sadhu, a licentious libertine and a jackal, gathered round it. Of these, the sadhu (saint) was filled with the spirit of vairagya renunciation) at the sight of her matchless beauty, and with ot for her departed spirit, thinking that if her life had been as virtus and good as her beauty was faultless, she was certain to 0 in heaven and nirvana. The libertine, on the other hand, feastelas eves on the voluptuous contour of the prostrate figure before him, labandoned himself to the agreeable hallucinations of pleasu in vas calculated to afford in life. As for the jackal, he only prowed about, waiting for the departure of the other two to devour the com. The effect of their diverse mental states on the three individuas stat the sathu went to heaven after death, the libertine descend-d to hell, but the jackal remained where he was before, that is to t was reborn among the beasts of prey in his next incarnatio rinciple to be deduced from the parable is that internal menta are occasioned by external objects and things, and become the ning factors.of the conditions of future life. V 42 IMMORTALITY AND JOY And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time: "Footprints that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn mainA forlorn and ship-wrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. "" 127

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128 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES The pratibimbas of the Holy Tirthamkaras, depicting Them in the serene dispassionate attitude of pure equanimity, inspire us with the holiest of thoughts and engender the true spirit of vairagya in our hearts; they also teach us the correct posture for meditation and dhyana (self-contemplation). Consecrated photos of Living Divinity, they are well calculated to awaken the divine in ourselves, inspiring us with confidence in our own souls by the example of the Great Ones whom they represent. For all the Tirthamkaras were, at one time, men of flesh and blood like ourselves-aye, and sinful souls too; but They have destroyed the bondage of Their karmas, while we are still involved in it. Jainism is the scientific Path of Perfection, and its first principle is that no results are ever achieved except by one's own exertion. The Holy Ones put this great principle into practice and perfected Themselves, attaining to heights of glory beyond the imagination of ordinary men. Pure perfect Knowledge, embracing all the facts of the three worlds-Celestial Realms, our own World and the lower Regions (Patala, hells and the like)-and of the three times, the past, present and future, infinite perception, undying, unending, unabating bliss and innumerable other divine qualities find an abode in Their pure Souls. Death, disease, sorrow and sicknesscannot affect Them; They are beyond the reach of ill-luck and pain! Those who follow Them attain to Their Greatness and Perfection, and becoming like Them in all respects reach nirvana at the top of the universe, to reside there, for ever, in the undisturbed enjoyment of infinite peace, tranquillity and joy, together with all those other attributes-omniscience, immortality and the like-which people associate with their Gods. For divinity is verily the real nature of the soul, though it is defiled and vitiated by the forces engendered. by individual karmas in the case of unredeemed beings. Jainism is the creed which enables the soul to destroy the bondage of karma, and the Tirthamkaras are the greatest friends and well-wishers of Jivus (souls) whom They take by the hand, as it were, and carry across the turbulent sea of samsara, provided They are allowed to do so. Who, then, can describe the glory of the system-what language is competent to paint the Greatness of the Masters, that enable the soul to free ! itself from its inauspicious bondage of karmas, that impart to it strength

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IMMORTALITY AND JOY 129 and courage to defy such powerful foes as sickness and death, that enable it to attain to unsurpassed splendour, in short, that turn puny, miserable mortals into omniscient blissful Gods, the object of worship and adoration for all times to come ? As said in the Ratna Karanda Srava kachara : "Those whose hearts have been purified by Right Faith become the Lords of Splendour, Energy, Wisdom, Prowess, Fame, Wealth, Victory and Greatness; they are born in high families, and possess the ability to realise the highest ideals of Life; they are the best of men! "Those who are endowed with Right Faith are born in the Heaven-world, where they become the devotees of Lord Jinendra, and endowed with eight kinds of miraculous powers and splendour, enjoy themselves for long millenniums in the company of devas' and devanganas ! 2 "By virtue of Right Faith men acquire the supreme Status of a Tirthamkara, the Master who knows all things well, whose feet are worshipped by the Rulers of devas, Lords of asuras and kings of men as well as by holy saints, who is the Support of Dharma,' and the protector of all living beings in the three worlds ! "They who take refuge in Right Faith finally attain to the Supreme Seat, i.e., moksha, which is free from old age, disease, destruction, decrease, grief, fear and doubt, and implies unqualified perfection in respect of wisdom and Bliss, and freedom from all kinds of impurities of karma ! "The bhavya who follows the creed of the Holy Tirthamkaras acquires the immeasurable glory of deva-life and the discus of a chakravartis before whom kings and rulers of men prostrate themselves, and attaining to supremely worshipful status of Godhood finally also reaches nirvana." Sri Jaina Dharma ki jai. 1 Male residents of heavens. ? Wives of devas. S Religion. Salvation. 5 He who possesses the realizable potentiality of Godhood. One of the twelve great emperors of the cycle.

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"BHARAT KA ETIHAS" CAN one shower constitute the rainy season? Does a single instance imply custom ? Will a solitary flower signify spring ? The old adage that one swallow does not make a summer will seem to suggest an answer to these questions in the negative; but perhaps in the eyes of certain writers the old saying has suffered from its age and does not hold good to-day. But whether it has suffered from age or not, it has certainly suffered from the tendency of the modern mind which rushes to sweeping generalizations before even it has fully familiarized itself with facts. We read in the Urdu compilation, "Bharat ka Etihas,'' composed by that famous patriot Lajpat Rai, who is aptly nicknamed the Lion of the Punjab : kh " jyny `wm lns chhwtty jnwrwN khy rkhsh khrty hwy'y nsnwN khy sthh nhyt byrHmy slwkh khrty hyN " Rendered into English this would read : "The generality of Jainas, while offering protection to small animals, behave with extreme cruelty towards human beings." That this is a stigma on the whole body of a nation or class is clear, from the general terms employed by the writer in expressing himself, though we shall not be uncharitable enough to attribute bad motives to the great patriot in making this sweeping condemnation. I shall simply assume that the Lalaji, who, by the way, happens to possess a Jaina ancestry, came across an instance or two of inhuman behaviour, at home or abroad, which impresset him so unfavourably with regard to Jainas. It is a pity that the Lalaji has not divulged the nature of the enormity of which the Jaina or Jainas (in his mind) were guilty, but obviously it could not have been anything which the law regards as really serious, since we do not remember, to have read or heard of any case in which the conduct of a Jaina can be said to have been exposed as inhuman or brutal beyond that of any other resident of the land, whether a Christian, a Moslem, a Hindu or an Arya-samajist. And it is difficult to believe if the Lalaji had himself witnessed an act of 'transcendental cruelty' that he would have encouraged its perpetrator, that is to say, in other words, that he would have abetted its commission, by silent inaction. We must, 130

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BHARAT KA ETIHAS 131 then, take it that it was something which shocked Lalaji's sense of propriety, though he could not legally bring the offender to justice for his misdeed. But what could such a misdeed be ? Could it be murder, man-slaughter, torture or extortion, or could it be rape ? I really cannot think of anything worse? But surely these are not the acts of which a Jaina can be readily presumed to be guilty. I suppose that what Lalaji really witnessed or heard of must have been the heartless tyranny of a money-lender seeking his pound of flesh from bones that had nothing but bare skin left over them. Certainly, the money-lending class is a despicable one in India ; and well might Lalaji be shocked at a money-lender's persecution of his victim ; for notwithstanding that there is no justification for the borrower's non-payment when he has had the other man's money and enjoyed its uses to the full, the human heart is ever prone to bleed at the sight of suffering and distress, howsoever brought about, whether by reckless extravagance, misfortunes or otherwise. The vile amasser of pelf will, no doubt, protest that it is unjust to stigmatise a man who parted with his hard-earned cash and waited patiently on the pleasure of the borrower for its return and that he only enforces his claim through the machinery of the law, which will never decree unjust and unreasonable demands, but so long as the human heart is constituted as it is, it will ever despise the author of misery and woe, huwsoever enforceable may his claim be at law. So far I may be said to agree with Lalaji's view, assuming him to be really thinking of a money-lender's tyranny when penning the words quoted from " Bharat ka Etihas," but three questions immediately suggest themselves in this connection, which are : 1. Is this the case with every Jaina money-lender, big and small ? * 2. Is the Hindu or any other non-Jaina money-lender less heartless or oppressive than his brother, the Jaina ? 3. Can you attribute to every Jaina, i.e., to Jainas generally, conduct that is characteristic of a special class of cunning money-grabbers ? I think on all these points the verdict of the rational mind will be against the Lalaji, for neither are all Jaina money-lenders blood

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132 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES suckers, nor are all Hindu and other non-Jaina brethren of theirs pure embodiments of tenderness and mercy, nor can any sensible man impute the shortcomings of a few individuals to a whole community. Lalaji's error really consists in making a sweeping generalization on the basis of an instance or two-whether real or supposed it matters not which -- but it is obvious that no weight can be attached to sweeping remarks of this kind, especially when they are defamatory of a whole class or community of men. I could never believe that the Lalaji could be guilty of such a rash statement even in the course of a hurriedly prepared impromptu speech, and, therefore, my surprise is all the greater at his exuberant thoughtlessness actually in print. But as already hinted at earlier, the fault probably lies with the tendency of our modern methods of education which invite and encourage expression even at the cost of deliberation. If Lalaji had only read what Colonel Tod wrote about the humanity of Jainas (see Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. II, pp. 438-39) he would not have proceeded in a hurry to condemn a peaceful and charitable community of law-abiding men, in the most ungenerous of terms. This is what Col. Tod says of Jaina humanity : "Reputable merchants of the Mahajin tribe refrain from speculating in grain, from the most liberal feelings, esteeming it dherm nuhyn hyn, 'a want of charity.' The humane Jain 'merchant says, 'to hoard up grain, for the purpose of taking advantage of human misery, may bring riches, but never profit." Mrs. Margaret Stevenson points out in the Heart of Jainism (p. 224) that a Jaina layman "... will strive to develop those twenty-one qualities which distinguish the Jaina gentleman. He will always be serious in demeanour; clean as regards both his clothes and his person; good-tempered; striving after popularity; merciful; afraid of sinning; straightforward; wise ; modest; kind; moderate ; gentle ; careful in speech; sociable; cautious; studious; reverent both to old age and old customs; humble; grateful ; benevolent; and finally attentive to business." The true Jaina is "... provident, has more than ordinary knowledge, is grateful for what is done for him, is loved by people, is modest, is merciful, of a serene disposition, and benevolent."-Ibid., p. 244.

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BHARAT KA ETIHAS 133 These ideals are, no doubt, high, but there are men who actually endeavour to live up to them. As Mr. A. B Lathe points out (An Introduction to Jainism, pp. 63-64), the proportion of jail-going population is a good index to the moral condition of a community. According to the following figures drawn from the Jail Administration Report of the Bombay Presidency for the year 1891 the number of Jaina criminals was one man for every 6,165 individuals, which compares most favourably with the percentage of other communities. Religion. Population. Total No. Proportion * of population prisoners. prisoners. of to Hindus 14657179 9714 1509 Muhammadans 3501910 5794 604 Christians .. 158765 333 477 Parsees 78945 2549 Jews 9639 481 Jainas 240436 39 6165 As Mr. Lathe shows, the figures from a later report, i.e., for the year 1901, show even an improvement over this, that is to say, that out of every 7,355 Jainas only one man was in prison in that year! It may be mentioned here that the Jaina ideal of love, in its purest form, comprises 1. kindly regard for all living beings, 2. loving adoration for those endowed with excellent virtues and attributes, .3. sympathy for those in distress and pain, and 4. toleration for those perversely inclined. The Jaina is, therefore, not free to hate even an enemy. The Jaina saint actually carries with him what may be termed the emblem of universal love, in the shape of a whisk of the softest of feathers from the peacock's tail. With this whisk he gently removes aside

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134 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES small insects that may be in danger of being killed or crushed otherwise. He will not even hurt the smallest of these lowly beings; for there is no other path to perfection in universal love! The last stage in the progress of the soul is universal love, as rightly pointed out by Clement of Alexandria, who said : "The first change is from heathenism to faith .... the second from faith to knowledge. And the latter terminating in love, thereafter gives the loving to the loved " -Ante Nicene Christian Library, vol. xii, p. 448. 'The loved' do not certainly signify only the personal relations, friends, family, tribe or nation, the entirety of the human race, nor even any real or imaginary Godhead, but the whole community of Living Beings, including the lowliest manifestation of Life Divine. This is the proper ideal, however bewildering and confusing it might appear in the householder's stage, in which it can be carried into practice only partially. The saint who has renounced the world aspires higher, and the Master actually encompasses it in his own attainments. The Jaina layman, who is still too far fettered by his evil karmas to be qualified to aspire for the ideal of universal love, begins by practising the virtue in a humbler way; he is taught to give (i) food to the hungry, (ii) medicine to the sick, (iii) instruction (books, education) to the ignorant, and . (iv) assistance to the distressed and the persecuted. The six daily duties of a Jaina comprise (1-3) worship of the Deva (God), veneration of the Scripture of Truth and adoration of the guru (Preceptor), (4) study, (5) charity, and (6) tapa (acts of self-denial).

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SOCIETY AND REFORM* Ladies and Gentlemen, I must now turn to those who have completed their studies in this school and are going to leave us. Some of them will, no doubt, pursue their studies in a College elsewhere ; but the rest go out into the world to learn their lesson of life direct from its contact. It is with these that I am principally concerned at present, though my observations apply equally to all students and others who are entering or are about to enter the world, which is characterised by a deadly struggle for existence and where none but the fittest survive, as modern Science, with characteristic 'scientific' callousness, proclaims. This world of ours, as you will soon learn for yourselves, and let me hope without having to pay too heavily for your wisdom, abounds in robbers and thieves who rob you of your goods by brute force on the one hand, and, on the other, is full of men and women who will steal your all by deceit, underhanded cunning and other forms of cheating. Mercy and pity are here either altogether unknown or are only meant to mask hypocrisy and vice under their cloak. No doubt, you will also come across many genuine cases of goodwill and philanthropy here and there, but it will be so only occasionally and not as a rule. In many cases you will perceive villainy and evil flourishing and waxing strong, and honesty and virtue going to the wall. In short, you will find the actual experience of the world somewhat in the nature of a .staggering blow to your notions about the goodness of man, formed by you in your innocence and the seclusion of the school life. Here you have heard meekness praised, virtue admired, duty held in esteem, and salvation set up as the highest ideal. Honesty and straightforwardness have been extolled before you, and you have learnt to be * The Presidential Address delivered on the occasion of the prize-distribution at the Jaina High School at Paharee Dhiraj, Delhi. 135

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136 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES gentle and forgiving. With a heart that is ready to bleed at the suffering of others, you have acquired the impulse to relieve distress in so far as lies in your power to do so. In a word, you have been trained and brought up for a kind of life in which there is nothing of the stern struggle for existence that actually characterises the world outside. The problem before you to-day, therefore, is how to reconcile the clash that exists between what is desirable and desired and actuality or fact? The problem resolves itself into two parts, namely, (1) how to improve the nature of our surroundings, and (2) how to regulate our own lives, so as to mix in the world and yet not imbibe its evil ourselves. You will see that these are the two main questions which, in one way or another, lie at the bottom of all movements of reform that have been set in motion in different countries at different times. If you will now analyse the causes which brought them to nought, you will not fail to notice that their failure was due to an almost exclusive attention to the first of these points (namely, how to improve one's surroundings), and to their ignoring the second. The fact is that we all want to improve others but not ourselves, and as we are ourselves the most important parts of things and institutions that need reform, it is inevitable that our efforts should miscarry unless they are applied to No. 1 in the first instance. The first lesson of life to be learnt, therefore, is that whenever you wish to improve the condition of anything. you should begin by putting your own house in order first of all. Now reform is either (1) political, (2) social, or (3) religious. I shall deal with all these three forms of reform briefly here. To begin with Political reform, it is evident that most of our complaints would disappear if we had individually (a) a heavy well-lined purse, (b) a strong arm to protect our rights and to knock down aggres sion and arrogance,

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SOCIETY AND REFORM 137 (c) a powerful, mature mind, able to understand its own good, and (d) an iron will, born of self-denial, that will adhere to what is right and eschew crookedness and temptation. Now, gentlemen, I hold that each and every one of these things depends on your own exertion and cannot be granted, as a boon, by any association or body of men or Government, whether indigenous or foreign. It is true that an unsympathetic Government can, to a certain extent, impose restrictions upon a nation's freedom and trade that are of a nature likely to paralyse its life and activity, but reflection will show that that is possible to a very limited extent, and then only when in dealing with those races that possess none of the abovementioned requisites for national prosperity. The political problem of India is, no doubt, not solved in its entirety by the above considerations, but there is no doubt whatsoever that if we qualify ourselves in respect of the above particulars it will be impossible for any other nation to impose its will on our own, and soon we shall find things beginning to shape themselves to our advantage. As for reform in Society, the most important thing to know is that unless you raise the status of your women all your best efforts in that direction are bound to fail. You have just simply to glance around to be convinced of the fact that wherever feminine influence is not allowed to soften the dealings of the sterner sex, there civilisation is either totally conspicuous by its absence or is of a type that is scarcely distinguishable from savagery and primitive barbarism. The woman is intended by nature to be a real companion to man in social life, and if she is not you must raise her up to that level. You must, therefore, set your hearts against the purdah system and early marriage both, as they are opposed to female progress, and should do all you can to educate your sisters and daughters. Your reward will be the sweetening of your home life in due course of time. With regard to religious reform, the most deplorable feature of the matter is that people have generally no idea of what religion means. You who have been educated in a Jaina institution know that religion is a Science, and as such above reform. One might as well talk of reforming Physics or the science of Chemistry. The

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138 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES only place where reform is needed in religion is in regard to ritualistic superstition and the language of mysticism which says one thing and means another. Your duty here also is clear: to re-establish the scientific truth as taught by the Tirthamkaras and to dispel the ignorance of others. As for the non-Jainas, I think they would willingly accept the scientific explanation of Jainism if they only -understood their own respective creeds. The study of comparative religion will prove to be of the utmost value in the ascertainment of truth, and you should popularise it as much as lies in your power. Your attitude in matters religious should be characterised by toleration and sympathy, but without compromising the truth itself. So much for the reforming of others. As for the clash of ideals with reference to one's own self, you will notice that all kinds of ideals fall under the following four categories : (1) Dharma (religion), (2) Artha (wealth and prosperity), (3) Kama (pleasure), and (4) Moksha (salvation). Now, the rule with regard to these ideals is that the first three of them are meant for the householder and the fourth exclusively for the sadhu who has completely withdrawn himself from the world. This rule at once furnishes an easy solution of all those grave difficulties which arise in connection with the putting into practice of such injunctions as offering the other cheek, the selling off and giving away of everything in charity, and the like. Of course, there are not many who can make these commandments their motto in daily life ; and it has always been a difficult question with the non-Jainas as to what might be the cash value of such injunc tions when practically nobody can live up to them. The fact is that they are only meant for the man who has passed the householder's stage and has stepped or is about to step into sannyasa (sainthood of asceticism). If the householder did not resist evil or gave away hii cloak also on being asked to part with his coat, the world would be overrun by evil, and there would be an end to religion

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SOCIETY AND REFORM 139 itself and to its votaries. But no harm could possibly accrue to society and the cause of dharma (religion) would be actually advanced if the saintly few, who had renounced all interest in the various concerns of the world, adopted these injunctions as the guiding principles of their lives. For this reason the sadhu will offer the other cheek when smitten on one; but the layman will defend his rights, and fight to the bitter end for what is his due. As the sadhu has severed his connection with the world where men seek merit (dharma), wealth (artha) and pleasure (kama) the only ideal left to him to aspire after is moksha, the state of eternal tranquillity and joy in nirvana, on the other side of the troublous sea of samsara, i.e., transmigration. The householder, who also aspires for moksha in the long run, knows that it cannot be attained except by severe self-discipline of a type which is not attainable by him as a layman. He, therefore, only aspires to perfect himself in the first instance, in his own dharma (duties), so that he may reach sannyasa in due course of time. The merit to be acquired by leading the life of a sravaka (householder), as enjoined in the scriptures, even if death supervene before sannyasa is attained, is sure to lead to happy, prosperous circumstances and surroundings in the next re-birth, and thus enable the soul to achieve its object in one or more incarnations with ease. You will now understand why all religions preach with one voice: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal "-(Matt. vi. 19-20). As wealth passes not the barrier of the grave, but merit does, it is enjoined: "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth"-(Luke xii. 33). As for the conflict between the different ideals of a layman's life, kama, no doubt, regards the world as full of beauty and joy and longs for the pleasures which it can afford; but reason tells us that all these alluring visions of a beautiful world are liable to be speedily dispelled, unless we possess or procure the means to pay

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140 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES e for our joys. Thus kama (pleasure) must be subordinated to wealth and to those other things and principles-observance of the rules of the moral and social codes and the like-which are necessary for the acquisition of wealth. These are collectively known as artha (wealth, affluence or prosperity) and have to be observed if we are not to come to grief suddenly in our headlong rush for worldly pleasures and lusts. Indiscriminate indulgence is opposed to every form of civilisation, with this difference that in the non-Indian type the fabric of society is grounded almost exclusively on considerations of temporal good while the Indian system aimed at a wider scope and greater harmony, by including within its all-embracing ambit the future well-being of the soul, as a migrating ego. The difference between the religious and the temporal view is as great as that between far-sightedness and its antithesis, short-sightedness. To put it in a nutshell, the basis of the Indian (Aryan) doctrine may be said to be that karma and artha depend upon and are obtained by the force of merit acquired in a previous life, so that those who do not acquire spiritual merit, which means the spirit of renunciation, here in this life, will find themselves stranded in adversity hereafter. We thus perceive that there is no real disharmony in a layman's life nor any conflict between his ideals. The different asramas, that is to say, divisions, into which the principal Indian religions divide a layman's life are also correlated with different ideals in a scientific way. The child up to the 6th year of his life is too immature to be trained for the householder's Dharma and only moulded into submissiveness by his parents at home. But he is ripe for education on completing the 6th year of his life and is then placed under at qualified teacher for instruction. In the education that is imparted to him emphasis is laid on spiritual knowledge, so that he should understand Dharma, which is to control his future activities in every department of life. Modern education, it will be seen, differs in this respect from the ancient, and we see the result in the soulless type of humanity that was so much in evidence in the last big European War, which will not be easily forgotten for its deeds of frightfulness all round. Another striking particular in respect of which the ancient

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SOCIETY AND REFORM 141 systern differed from the modern is this that while the former insisted upon profundity of thought the latter directly fosters shallow speech. The most brilliant products of our Universities are men whose intellectualism may be said to possess length and breadth but little or no depth. This is partly due to the exaggerated emphasis on elegant diction, which delights in the employment of metaphor and choice phraseology, and partly to other cause which need not be gone into here. To revert to the asramas of life, the period of studentship in ancient times was spent in the acquisition of knowledge, both of things spiritual as well as worldly. This period generally extended beyond the 20th year of the pupil's age and was termed brahmacharya, during the whole of which he was enjoined to observe absolute celibacy. The next asrama, that of married life, commenced with the termination of studentship, and usually extended to a point of time when the signs of the approach of old age became clearly discernible. This period was devoted to the world and to worldly things. Our student is now married and settled down in life. The wife is a desirable companion to the average householder from more points of views than one. The householder, therefore, does not observe celibacy, but marries a suitable spouse, and, thus, shields himself from the seducements and temptations of the world. He now devotes his time to the acquisition of wealth, which he enjoys in proper ways with his better-half, performing all other duties pertaining to civic life as a member of society. As the first rapturous thrills of married life subside into homely domesticity, the householder begins to train himself gradually for the next higher usrama, observing what are known as pratimas, to develop the spirit of renunciation. I have no time to describe these pratimas here, but they qualify a man for, and in the end merge into, the third stage, the vanaprastha asrama (literally, forest-life), hence the life of aloofness from the world. This is achieved when the tenth pratima is reached. The student who entered married life as a householder and whom we found engaged in the discharge of his numerous duties as a father, a member of society, a patriot and the like,

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142 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES now feels a growing longing to escape from this seething whirlpool of transmigration, and has already withdrawn himself to a marked degree from all kinds of worldly concerns. The vanaprastha period begins about the commencement of old age (say, the 55th year of life), after suitable provision has been made for the family, and is spent in the training of the mind and the body both to bear the severe strain of asceticism in sannyasa, which is the last asrama. The outlook of life is completely changed now, the earlier ideals are all gone, and the ascetic wholeheartedly aspires for moksha and nothing but moksha. He lingers in the world till he obtains nirvana or till death sends him to other regions where, with the merit accumulated by asceticism, he begins life afresh, better equipped to combat death and the forces of transmigration and karma. Such, my friends, is the brief but scientific explanation of the divisions of life in the ancient Indian civilisation, which alone can help us in the speedy realisation of our cherished ideal of Eternal Felicity and Joy. Disharmony and discord are encountered only when things are done topsy-turvy. If you try to climb to the roof by haphazard jumps and flights in the air you will certainly come to grief. But this is simply because you do not resort to the ladder which is necessary to connect the different parts of a building, and to take you to the top. Similarly, the indiscriminate, chaotic mixing up and observance of the rules appertaining to the different asramas of life is only calculated to lead to trouble. If we would attain to the coveted heights of perfection that we seek, we should pass through the different asramas in their proper order, pausing every now and then to note our shortcomings and to remove them and their causes. Indiscriminate action, the failure to observe the proper order of the numerous stages and steps and even undue haste to pass from one stage into another will only end in bringing discredit upon yourself and your Dharma. It is true that we now and then read in our Puranas of men who reached perfection in sannyasa on the instant, but these are only exceptions. It is obvious that we all cannot hope to attain perfection that way, just as we all cannot expect to become rich like the man who left his home to earn his living, but who met with an accident and fell down in an adjoining field only to discover that he had stumbled

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SOCIETY AND REFORM 143 on to a treasure trove. It is worth noting that the exceptions are only cases of those whose powerful good karmas of an earlier life bore fruit in an instant, on the destruction of the causes of obstruction in the way. With the theory of asramas we should also try to understand the principle of the classification of varnas. Varna-dharma, if I may call it thus, is characteristic of the ancient Aryan civilisation, but is not. to be found elsewhere. It would seem that varna-division was really intended originally for the stabilization of the social fabric and for its protection from outside defilements. Obviously where the society is left unprotected against outside aggression and encroachment, any form of corruption may get into it, defiling its purity and vitiating its utility. For instance, if non-Aryans or mlechchas are allowed to penetrate and overrun the land, Aryan vyavahara (practical life) cannot be maintained in its original purity any longer; for the intruders are sure to set up their own anti-Aryan practices and customs, which must interfere with the practising of Dharma itself. It was to safeguard against such undesirable intrusions, in other words, for the protection of the Aryan civilisation from anti-Aryan defilements, that the varna scheme was designed. It was surely not expected that it would suffice by itself to protect the social fabric eternally; but it was the only thing that could yield the best results. The fact that the Aryan-Indian civilization stood the test of time, so well and so long, when all forms of non-Aryan civilization crumbled away in no. time, is a glowing tribute in itself to the wisdom of the ancient Lawgiver. The basis of the system was the political composition of the social unit, which was originally split up into three classes, fighters, tradesmen and workers (labour). It was in reality a sort of threefold perpetual conscription which was laid down for the welfare of the society. In other countries, too, conscription has had to be resorted to; but nowhere outside India was such success attained by it. The fighting classes in India differed in two important respects from the fighting classes in other countries, namely, firstly, in so far as Indian heroes could almost always boast of a long ancestry of men who had earned undying fame on the battle-field and, secondly, in

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144 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES so far as the traditions of the Warrior's Dharma became ingrained in the Kshatriya's nature. Indian warriors were bred and brought up in an atmosphere of chivalry that was itself a part of a glorious Dharma which had led men to the attainment of the coveted nirvana! There is no wonder, then, if the Kshatriyas sought to maintain their principles with their lives. Outside India such rigid adherence to the Kshatriya's Code of Honour is but a rare thing. The military class which the varn2 scheme gave to India was thus a proud race of fearless warriors who esteemed their lives as nothing when compared with the Warrior's Dharma. The injunction against the fusion, or rather the confusion, of var as was really directed against the opening of the door to inferior worth in the Kshatriya class which might have disastrous consequences, in the moment of need. This is why so much was made of the purity of blood - which means not the red fluid circulating in a person's veins, but descent from glorious ancestors-by all classes of Kshatriyas. They aimed at the purity of descent both in regard to their kula (paternal line) as well as the jati (maternal stock), though the former, if pure, was considered quite sufficient. Besides this, insistence on the excellence of the maternal blood could not always be deemed wise, especially where circumstances rendered it necessary to raise up a nation of fighters to fill in the gaps in the ranks of the army, occasioned by wars. For this reason Kshatriyas were allowed to marry a large number of women, and practically from any class. In this way large armies of proud warriors were always available and could further be speedily raised, without anything like a hitch or difficulty The reason for all this was to be found, as already stated, in the fact that generally a warrior with a glorious ancestry was likely to acquit himself better and more honourably on the battlefield than one who had no such ancestry to fire his imagination. It is, for instance, not to be expected that a dhobi's son (a laundry lad), who has spent all his life in washing and spreading out soiled linen, would make as good a soldier as the young Rajput conscious of his descent from the royal Pratap. The glorious traditions of the Kshatriya race, stories of ex citing adventures of brave Rajput warriors, memories of deeds of undy ing glory of his own ancestors, to say nothing of the thousand and on

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SOCIETY AND REFORM 145 other items and incidents which tend to fire the youthful imagination of a young hero-all combine to invest the latter with a psychic vigour which constitutes a great advantage over his rival, the dhobi's son. The remaining two varnas must also be maintained if social and political stability is to be kept in view ; for without trade and labour no nation can get on even for a short time. The Brahmanas seem to have appeared on the scene much later, and do not seem to have any claim to great anciency. They, however, soon managed to appropriate to themselves all the respect and devotion which are due to wisdom, and wove up the rules of a purely social scheme of classification into the tenets of their faith, so that today the virnas are looked upon as an inseparable parto (Religion). I may be permitted to add that the failure of the scheme in modern times is due to the development of haughty arrogance and excessive pride of birth which was directly fostered under the Brahmanical influence, and which made it impossible for petty chieftains to combine against a common foe. But this is a fact which is generally lost sight of when people begin to find fault with the Jaina doctrine of ahimsa for the loss of the Aryan independence. The Jaina traditions, as a matter of fact, are full of deeds of chivalry, and the pages of Jaina History are illuminated with the glorious achievements of the Jaina Warriors on the battlefield. Amongst others, Chandra gupta, who actually inflicted a crushing defeat on a famous Greek general, was a Jaina (Vincent Smith's History of India). Bharat, the founder of the Indian (Aryan) Empire, was likewise a Jaina, as even the Hindu tradition bears out. Further, Jainism does not reserve the attainment of nirvana to the Brahmanas or the Vaishyas exclusively. All the Tirthamkaras were Kshatriyas ; and besides them innumerable other Kshatriyas obtained salvation according to the Jaina Puranas, It only remains for me to point out the traditions associated with the institution where you have spent several years of your childhood and pupilage and which you are now about to leave. 10

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146 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES This High School was no doubt started only a few years ago, but, being imbued with Jaina ideals, it is associated with the entire body of the Jaina tradition that has come down to us from times so remote as to be almost beyond modern computation. The term Jaina has always been a synonym in the past for all that is the most excellent and superb, the Jainas being noted for their aspiration for perfection and for their intolerance of any deficiency in themselves in that regard. That these traditions are maintained in the future lies with you who are the future generation. You must see to it that whatever is to be done by you in the future is done in such a way as is fully in keeping with the best of the glorious traditions of the creed of the Jinas (conquerors). I need hardly add that if you live up to the ideas that you have" learnt in this institution and always keep before you the ideals that are placed before you by our glorious Dharma (religion), there is no doubt but that you will speedily obtain all the most coveted boons in this life, and, ultimately, also nirvana, which is a synonym for all that is implied in our truest and best conception of Divinity and God hood. And may the glorious Beacon Light of Truth, emanating from the Holy Feet of the Worshipful Tirthamkaras, be ever your guide, in joy and in sorrow, in storm, and in calm, leading you from one eminence of excellence and perfection to another, till Godhood be attained. Sri jaina Dharma ki Jai.

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AHIMSA (From the Practical Path) We now come to a consideration of the principle of ahimsa which is described as the highest form of dharma (religion), and which must be observed if release from the samsara be the ideal in view. Unfortunately this is a doctrine which has been grossly misunderstood by men-by some on account of an inadequate acquaintance with the basic truth of religion, and by others because of a fanciful notion that its observance interferes with the enjoyment of the pleasures of taste and the realisation of dreams of worldpower. We shall consider both these objections one by one before explaining the actual practical application of this doctrine. Firstly, as regards the pleasures of taste, it will be seen that taste is merely an acquired thing, and that it is not in the food, which tastes differently at different times and under different circumstances, but in the attitude of the soul towards it. This is evident from the fact that many of the things, e.g., tobacco, which one finds nauseating and disgusting at first become palatable after a time, with the perversion and defilement of the natural instincts of the soul. This leads us to the conclusion that one can train his instincts in whichever direction one likes in respect of food. The testimony of vegetarians, especially of those who have given up animal-food by choice, is available to show that their meals are not any the less tasty because of not containing meat. But the question for a rational mind is not whether the animal food is more tasty than a vegetarian diet, but whether it is wise to eat it? As to this even St. Paul urges (1 Cor. x. 23): "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." A proper regard for one's future 147

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148 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES welfare requires that one should control one's senses in all respects where they are in conflict with one's good. Uncontrolled senseindulgence has been described by the wise as a sign of lurking cattledom'; and it would be certainly foolish to allow the tongue to eat up one's chances of salvation, or to mar the future prospects of the soul. The object of life, it has been pointed out by every thinking man, is not living to eat, but eating to live. A Persian poet has it : khwrdn bry zystn , dhkhr khrdn st tw m`tqd khh zystn z bhr khwrdn st | Tr. Eating is to sustain life and meditation ; Thou holdest it to be the (sole) object of life !) The same considerations apply to political ambition, for what shall a man profit if he gain all the goods of the world but lose his own soul ? Accordingly, the poet asks the shade of the Great Warrior who had filled the world with deeds of his renown: ap khy rwz jy khs ly'y dr mr ? Tr. How long didst thou live? To what purpose killedst thou Dara (Darius)?1 When the redoubtable Mahmud of Ghazni was on his death-bed, it is said that he had all the plundered wealth of India brought before him to pass it in review for the last time. It was a touching sight to see this old warrior who had carried pillage and sword no less than seventeen times to India, lying with the stamp of despair on his ghastly face. There he lay surrounded by his warrior hosts, his weapons still lying within reach and his riches in front, but conscious of the fast-approaching foe, and of his utter helplessness against it--a true picture of the final scene in the drama of world-power and its inevitable end! Can we doubt after this that ahimsa is the highest religion, the dharma which sustains and supports ? Life is dear to all, and

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AHIMSA 149 it is the recognition of the right to the joy of living in others that ensures our own joy. S'adi of Shiraz rightly urges: my zr mwry khh dn khsh st khh jn drd w jn shyryN khwsh st [Tr. Do not injure the ant which is a carrier of grain; For it has life, and life is dear to all!] It is wrong to imagine that we can prosper in defiance of dharma or that ahimsa is the cause of political downfall. Were the Hindus vanquished by Muhammadans because they observed ahimsa ?-or because their mutual feuds and jealousies prevented them from presenting a combined front to the invaders? Ahimsa does not forbid a king from fighting in defence of his kingdom; nor were the armies and kings that offered battle to the Musalman hordes pure vegetarians. The fact is that dharma is the true source of strength; but it must be lived to be productive of good. Where it is not put into practice it is bound to disappear, whether the books containing its teaching continue to exist or disappear in the bellies of moths. Those who practise ahimsa become contented, thoughtful, self-centred and brave; and are respected by others with whom they may come in contact; for, as pointed out elsewhere, dharma raises the rhythm of the soul, and ahimsa is the highest dharma. Here again we conclude that those who put the accent on the spiritual side of life-and it is the true side-cannot but recognize ahimsa to be the highest dharma and the joy and glory of living. In actual practice the operation of ahimsa paramo dharma-ahimsa is the highest religion- necessarily varies with the circumstances of each individual soul, inasmuch as most of the living beings are so circumstanced that it is impossible for them to avoid all forms of himsa at once. Jainism does not lose sight of this fact, but takes it fully into account in the formulation of the rules of conduct which it lays down for the guidance of its followers. The layman, when he enters the path which leads to Perfection and Bliss, begins by avoiding the doing of unnecessary harm; he then applies himself to the

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150 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES restricting of his desires and wants, and, finally, when the powers of his soul are developed by the giving up of all kinds of desires, and he becomes qualified for the attainment of nirvana, the practising of absolute ahimsa becomes easy and natural to him. There is no absurdity in this, for the development of the soul, under the influence of asceticism, brings into manifestation its latent occult and psychic forces which enable it to defy all sorts of adverse influences, such as hunger, thirst, sickness, and the like that lead one to the commission of all conceivable kinds of acts of injury to others. The layman should try to refrain from all those pursuits and occupations, such as cutting down forests, which involve a wholesale destruction of life, though he may not be able to avoid all forms of himsa at once. He need entertain no fear of the business of the world coming to a standstill by his abstaining from these avocations, since there are a sufficient number of abhavya souls to carry them on and to insure the continuance of the world. These are the beings who have not the potentiality to understand the truth. It is not that their souls are any different from those of the bhavya (the opposite of abhavya) but their karmas are of such a malignant type that they can never long for the truth, or grasp it when put before them. The man who longs for the joy of Gods must prepare himself for the practising of absolute ahimsa by a steady course of training. He should begin with abstaining from causing unnecessary injury to all kinds of beings having more senses than one. With respect to the evolution of senses, living beings fall under the following five classes : (1) one-sensed beings who possess only the sense of touch, such as vegetables; (2) two-sensed beings, i.e., those which possess touch and taste both, such as certain varieties of shell-fish; (3) three-sensed beings, who also enjoy the sense of smell in addition to touch and taste, such as lice, bugs and ants ; (4) four-sensed beings who are endowed with all the senses except hearing ; and (5) five-sensed beings.

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AHIMSA 151 In addition to their appropriate or specific senses, all living beings possess three kinds of forces of life, namely, ayuh,* bodily strength and the power of breathing. The power of communicating with others, which in the higher grades of life assumes the form of speech, is enjoyed by the two-sensed and other higher types, while the mind is a distinguishing feature of the five-sensed type alone, though all beings belonging to that class are not endowed with it. These ten kinds of forces-the five senses, ayuh, bodily strength, breathing, speech and the mind-are called (the ten) pranas. Now, all the five kinds of living beings are souls capable of feeling pain, though not always in anticipation of injury; for that is felt only by those of the fifth class who evolve out a mind-men, monkeys, dogs and the like. All kinds of living beings, however, possess the two inner bodies termed the karmana and the taijasa sariras, whose separation from the body of gross matter is called death-a painful process at all times, and more so when the bodies are separated by force of external violence. Pain is also felt by all kinds of living beings when their limbs are cut, pierced, torn asunder or otherwise mutilated. Himsa is the causing of pain to another, and includes all kinds of acts calculated to interfere with one's enjoyment of life or freedom in respect of one's pranas. The following table will enable us to form a general idea of its main types at a glance : * Duration of life.

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152 Injuring one-sensed beings (A) Necessary (E) ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Deliberate Killing for food, trade, In defence of For the main i. body, ii. property and iii. country. tenance of law and order. HIMSA Sport Injuring the remaining (higher) types of living beings (B) I Due to carelessness Implied in the struggle (C) for existence (D) Wanton (F) Slavery Accidental In the treatment of burns, wounds, etc. In the employment of men and animals for the purposes of trade. Sacrifice etc. The layman, very naturally, is not expected to avoid injuring the one-sensed beings, nor can he refrain from all other kinds of injury Vivisection* *It may be taken as established, as the result of the researches carried out by Sir J. C. Bose, that vivisection is quite unnecessary, and that the same purpose can be served by studying the conditions of plant life. It is true that plant life is also living matter, and that plants and shrubs are capable of feeling pain and shock. But the householder cannot avoid all forms of himsa (the causing of pain) at once. He certainly aspires to escape from it altogether when he reaches siddhahood, the stage of final liberation, but till that coveted seat is attained he must choose the lesser forms of evil, and avoid the greater and more grievous ones. It is not to be supposed that all forms of himsa imply an equal degree of sinning and evil karma. The harm is to be measured with regard to the nature of life that is destroyed, the rule being that the higher the scale of existence involved the greater the sin, and vice versa. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that the destruction of life does not always result in an equal degree of hard-heartedness or cruelty of disposition. The vegetables are unmoving, and to the outward senses appear to be quite lifeless. Naturally, no hard-heartedness can be associated with their destruction, till at least they are perceived as endowed with life with the mind's eye. As we rise higher in the scale of being, we find the two-sensed, the three-sensed and the four-sensed types enjoying motion and showing clear indications of life, so that their deliberate destruction cannot but be associated with the deadening of something of that element of love, tenderness and sympathy which a living being feels, or should, but for the deadening of his tender nature, feel for another living being. The case

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AHIMSA 153 except wanton cruelty. He is, therefore, required to practise ahimsa in respect of class F. The muni is, however, able to avoid injuring others in all cases falling under classes D, E and F, and also to a great extent under class C. The omniscient Master who has conquered his lower nature does not cause any kind of himsa and the same is the case with the Siddha (the fully liberated soul). who has no material impurities left in Him. Thus, the practical observance of the principle of ahimsa varies. with the circumstances of each soul, so that the least advanced begin with the renunciation of wanton cruelty, and gradually train themselves to observe the stricter vows of a muni. As personal wants and desires become limited to bare food, once a day or so, the practising of the higher forms of ahimsa is not felt to be irksome or difficult; and, finally, when the powers of the soul are developedi to perfection and the complete mastery over the lower nature is obtained, resulting in the manifestation of those subtle and powerful forces which enable the kevali (master) to defy all kinds of adverse influences-hunger, thirst, sickness and the like-the observance of absolute ahimsa becomes perfectly easy and natural. * As Mr. Warren points out (see 'Jainism' by H. Warren), if we study the state of the mind of a person engaged in the act of killing, we shall notice that he is not only indifferent to the suffering and pain he is causing to his victim for his own selfish ends--sometimeshe actually delights in it-but has also no idea of the subtle forces engendered by such an act in his own system. His three characteristics, therefore, are thoughtlessness, selfishness and heartlessness, which are the greatest obstacles the soul encounters on the path of spiritual unfoldment. In the same way, the analysis of the mind of the victim discloses the presence, in addition to an intense feeling of pain, of such elements as horror, fear, hatred, resentment and despair of the worst possible with the causing of himsa of the five-sensed type is much worse. Here you have all the outward indications of life as before, and in addition the power of hearing and generally also of understanding developed to some extent. The members of this class cry out when hurt, and at times also in anticipation of being hurt, and mutely appeal to you from distressed pitiful eyes. You may disregard their appeals, no doubt, but only by hardening your heart against the generous natural impulse. Finally, man actually pleads for dear life with tears and emotion, so that the very worst results must ordinarily ensue from the destruction of human life.

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES type, each of which tends to produce a state of mental disquietude highly inimical to the progress of the soul. The result is that those who disregard the true teaching of religion and take to the path of kimsa are not only the enemies of their own souls, but also of those of their helpless victims. It would be interesting to work out the further and future conse *quences of himsa on the souls of the slayer and the victim both. Bearing in mind the fact that the future re-birth is always determined by the nature of the tendencies evolved out by the soul, it can be safely laid down that the being whose habitual mental attitude is characterised by heartlessness, selfishness and thoughtlessness must necessarily be drawn to a type of life marked by these mental traits. When we look out for the appropriate type for those who are habitually cruel, unfeeling and thoughtless, we discover it to be amongst the unthinking beasts of prey-tigers, wolves, hawks, cats, and the like-so that the future re-birth of him who has spent his life in developing these peculiarities of disposition must necessarily be in the tribe of some wild bird or beast, the actual type depending on the degree of cruelty evolved out in each individual case. In some cases where the soul is thoroughly steeped in himsa it directly descends into hells, as the scriptures show. The case with the victim of sporting lust, however, stands on a different footing, since the feelings of anger, horror, pain and the like are not habitual with it. Hence, its future re-birth would not necessarily be amongst the worst types of living beings, though the predominant feelings of the closing moments of life might impart their tinge to the character already formed, and bear fruit in the shape of nicha gotra (low status) and inauspicious surroundings. As a result of the foregoing observations, it will be noticed that the soul is affected only by its own thoughts and feelings. Hence where the mind is not tinged with cruel inclinations there can be no harmful evil consequences accruing from an act that might even end in the causing of death. The case of the surgeon who undertakes to perform a dangerous operation as the last hope of saving life is an instance in point. It is even conceivable that lasting merit may be earned by him under such circumstances notwithstanding the occur rence of death, if he is moved by real sympathy and tenderness, as dis

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AHIMSA 155 tinguished from mere professional regard, towards his patient. In other cases where conflicting mental states arise simultaneously, in connection with the doing of a harmful act, they tend to bear their respective consequences, which may be measured with reference to the degree of tenderness and the cruel impulse with which the mind may be characterised at the time. Thus, no one who has studied the true nature of his soul and of the causes which tend to prolong its bondage would ever find fault with ahimsa being the true path of liberation and the highest dharma.

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COMPARATIVE RELIGION SEPARATION OF SPIRIT AND MATTER Note on the Examination of the Biblical doctrine with reference to Sannyasa. No easy hope or lies Shall bring us to our goal, But iron sacrifice Of body, will, and soul. -- Kipling. M EN today look upon philosophy as a subject to be accomplished II in an arm-chair ; but this has not always been so. The ancients, who took a more serious view of life than ourselves, looked upon it not only as a science but also as an art, the art of life, and regarded it as necessitating a systematic and habitual training. In his interesting work "The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages on the Christian Church " Edwin Hatch, D.D., points out that the aim of the training was to bring the passions under control. It was a sort of moral gymnastics intended for the development of the moral side of the human nature. "Just as the training of the muscle which is necessary for perfect bodily development is effected by giving them exaggerated exercise so the training of the moral power was effected, not by reading the rules and committing them to memory, but by giving them a similarly artificial and exaggerated exercise ... The aim of it was to bring the passions under the control of reason, and to bring the will into harmony with the will of God'-(Loc. cit. 147). Dr. Hatch's conception of the harmony between the individual and the divine wills is necessarily tinged with the current misconceptions of mystic origin, but the student of the Science of Religion will have no difficulty in grasping the sense of the expression to consist in the aspiration of man to acquire the nature of God. The principle of exercising the moral restraint needs no comment from me beyond this: that as in physical culture over-exertion will be productive of strain 156

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SEPARATION OF SPIRIT AND MATTER 157 and fatigue, and under-exertion will lead to no good results, in the same way with the training of the will one must exert oneself to one's full capacity, avoiding both the over-straining of excess and the ineffectuality of shirking. Even among the Christians of the second century this moral discipline was carried out under systematic rules. "It was not left to a student's option. He must undergo hardships, drinking water rather than wine, sleeping on the ground rather than on a bed; and sometimes even subjecting himself to austerities "-(Ibid., pp. 148-149). This is, indeed, the ancient doctrine; it is certainly as old as Religion itself, which means nothing if not the attainment of Divine Perfection by the complete eradication of the lusts and appetites appertaining to embodied existence. This practical aspect of Religion was not kept in view as seriously and vigorously elsewhere as in India; but even in countries like Greece, which have not produced any true ascetics, philosophers tried to carry out the principle of renunciation in their lives. We learn from Dr. Hatch that Pythagoras had founded an ascetic school (Ibid., 151).* Dr. Hatch also quotes Dio Chrysostom, who says (Ibid., 151) : "The life of one who practises philosophy is different from that of the mass of men; the very dress of such a one is different from that of ordinary men, and his bed and exercise and baths and all the rest of his living. A man who in none of these respects differs from the rest must be put down as one of them, though he declare and profess that he is a philosopher before all Athens or Megara or in the presence of the Lacedaemonian kings." Askesis, the term which was in use for bodily training, was also employed to denote this special discipline of the philosopher who aimed at the voluntary repression of desire. But the emphasis in asceticism is not on mere bodily hardships. a "The true ascetic is he who disciplines himself against all the suggestions of evil desire "-(Ibid., 149). Abstinence from marriage and animal food was urged and practised as counsels of perfection (Ibid., 155). It was also distinctly * See also the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. IX, p. 859.

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158 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES recognised that the result of the practice of philosophy was happiness (Ibid., 153). If a temptation come in a man's way it must be resisted. He should then say to himself : "Wait poor soul; do not straightway be carried off your feet by it; consider the contest is great, the task is divine; it is for kingship, for freedom, for calm, for undisturbedness"-(Ibid., 149). The words for kingship, for freedom, for calm, for undisturbedness, in this quotation are clear enough, meaning, as they do, divine perfection and freedom and joy, as taught by Religion. In the Bible also it is said (Leviticus xx. 7) :"Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am the Lord your God." Man must raise himself to correspond to the type of his ideal. Hence it is stated clearly in an earlier passage in Leviticus (xix. 2) : "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy : for I the Lord your God am holy." The injunction is repeated in the New Testament. 1-Peter (Chap. i. 16) records : "Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy." The messianic teaching itself most distinctly inculcates (Matt. v. 48) : "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." The full divine Perfection of God has been held out here as the Ideal for the aspiration of man. In the Petrine Epistle we again have it (2-Peter, I. 4) : "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." In Ephesians (Chap. iv. 13), the desire is for becoming perfect "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ"; and in the Epistle of James (Chap. i. 4), the language is even more unambiguous, the words employed being "that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." As already stated, the Godhood of the soul is

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SEPARATION OF SPIRIT AND MATTER 1592 rendered unmanifest in the case of the unredeemed one by the intimacy of the association with matter, so that it is neither whole nor divine in any sense. But by the practising of asceticism it will become: holy (from a root implying wholeness) and, therefore, whole and entire, to use the language of the Epistle of St. James, and shall, then be wanting in nothing. Imitation of God, that is to say, of the Ideal, is necessary for the attainment of Perfection. According to Philo Judaeus (20 B.C.. to 30 A.D.), the prophetic mind, by which term he understands purest intelligence, when it has been initiated in divine things and is inspired resembles unity, and "he who cleaves to the nature of unity is said to have approached God with the intimacy as it were of a kinsman." The reason of this may be given in Philo's own words : "l'or, abandoning all mortal types, he is transferred to the divine type so. that he becomes akin to God and truly divine "-(Philo's Contribution to Religion, by H. A. A. Kennedy, p. 233). What happens to such a one who is transferred into the divine type ? Does he have to die and remain in subjection to the law of Transmigration ? No, there is an end to his sufferings and wanderings, for he has become fully divine as a God. Philo, too, says (Ibid., p. 138) : "... the good man does not die, but departs, that it might declare the inextinguishable and immortal nature of the fully purified soul, which shall experience a departure from this world to heaven, not that dissolution and destruction hich death appears to bring." How can there be subjection to death in the case of a fully purified Soul, who has completely separated Himself from matterand who is established, unshakably, in His own divine Unity, i.e., the simplicity of Spiritual nature ? Immortality is acquired, not as a gift from an outside patron, but arises only because pure Spirit is a simple and therefore indestructible substance. But is there no simpler and less trying method of reaching the divine unity for the benefit of the easy-chair speculators of our day? Can we not go on living and enjoying ourselves, let us say

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160 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES a bit moderately, in the world, and become divine at the same time? There are some persons who actually think that the teaching of the Bible not only provides such an easier method but is actually opposed to the more austere one. Let us see what is the truth for ourselves. According to St. Paul, not the hearers of the law, but the practisers (doers) of the law, will be justified (Romans ii. 13). In the Epistle of James (Chap. i. 22), the warning is plainly given against self-deception in this respect : "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Still more clear rings the voice of the preceptor when he says : "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 gir 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 ii. 14--17). St. Paul laments man's inability to do what he should do and to refrain from what he should not do in forcible larguage (Romans vii. 19-23): "For the good that I would I do not : but the evil that I would not, that I do. "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwel. leth in 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."* The culmination is reached in the next verse, which sums up the philosophical conclusion in a few words regarding the nature of the obstruction to right conduct and the acquisition of Soul's natural divinity. The language is remarkable and singularly forcible and terse: ."O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" *Cf. Drummond, who, discoursing on Philo's teaching about the internal conflict says: "Like the apostle Paul he was familiar with the internal war, which he pre nounces to be the most difficult and oppressive of all wars. This conflict is occasioned

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SEPARATION OF SPIRIT AND MATTER 161 Can there be anything more serious than this? There is nothing of your arm or easy-chair speculation in the apostolic language here. The apostle is in deadly earnest. The body, the object of so many of our fond affections, is a hindrance in the soul's path and must be removed, because sin is associated with and centred in it. But is there any difficulty attaching to the destruction of the body? Can it not be put an end to by something that is destructive of life, e.g., by poison ? Aye! there is the rub; the difficulty is precisely here, and it is a very great difficulty! For death bi suicide does not effect a complete separation between the body and the soul, as it leaves two subtle inner vestments* adhering to the spirit, which is immediately drawn into another womb by the forces of magnetic attraction operating on it, through the electric material of those inner vestments, and is reborn elsewhere in due course of time with a new outer bodily cover. We must therefore distinguish this, the suicidal form of death, from the idea of death in the Pauline Epistle referred to above. The distinction consists in the cessation of sin, which is destroyed by dying in the proper way and which continues in the ordinary mode of demise. St. Paul, therefore, correctly says :-"For he that is dead is freed from sin " (Romans v. 7). We must not, of course, take it to mean death in the normal sense ; what is meant is only for he that is dead to the body, etc. The problem, then, is how to die so as to be alive ever more thereafter ; by the antagonism between soul and body... The body is by nature evil and plots against the soul. It is dead, so that each of us carries a corpse, and the Philosopher ... cares for that which is alive in him, the soul, and neglects that which is dead, the body, aiming only at this that that which is best, the soul, may not be maltreated by the evil and dead thing with which it is bound up.' This view logically carried out is the parent of asceticism. It had already collected the Essenes in Palestine, and perhaps the Therapeutae in Egypt, and it was destined at a later period to people the Egyptian desert with monks" (Drummond's Philo Judaeus, Vol. I. pp. 23-24). * In the Bible these inner bodies are not specifically mentioned, but the whole doctrine is briefly given in a different garb. In Thessalonians (iv. 23) mention is made of "spirit, soul and body" which acquire great significance in the light of the following statement in the Epistle to Hebrews (see Chap. iv. 12):--"For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper, than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.. ." It is clear from this that what St. Paul regards as soul is the inner vestment, intervening between the purity of spirit and the gross material body, and that the separation between soul and spirit is possible by knowledge divine that cuts asunder more sharply than the sharpest sword. 11

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162 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES in other words, how to die while fully alive all the time? The answer to this is given in the 10th verse of the next chapter where it is said : "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness." The idea of Christ has been explained in my other writings, and is that of the spiritual Ideal of the Soul which is a great mystery. St. Paul says of this mystery that it was kept secret since the world began (Romans xvi. 25). In the Epistle to. Ephesians (Chap. iii. 3-4), we are told : "Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." This is repeated in the Epistle to Colossians (Chap. ii. 2-3):. "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ : " In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." The Gospels, in reality, only aim at uncovering the secret in a guarded way. The apostle's hesitation is evident from his language (Ephesians, vi. 19-22) : "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 which 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 : "Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts." I shall not dwell on the mystery of the Bible or of the Biblical teaching any longer here, as I have explained it fully in my earlier works, e.g., the 'Key of Knowledge.' It will be sufficient to point out here that this great mystery is centred in the life of the Soul which is its own God, but which is deprived of its natural status and glory on account of the bondage of sin (=wrong doing, i.e., karmas). How may the release of this divinity be accomplished is the one theme of Religion. This great truth about the divinity of the

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SEPARATION OF SPIRIT AND MATTER 163 soul was as much an astounding revelation to the unlettered and uninitiated in the past as it is to men and women of today, and they resented it as bitterly and as vehemently as the fanatics of our own times do, because it clashes with their vulgar conceptions of God, Nature and Soul, derived from a misinterpretation of the letter of the Law. And so great was the frenzy of the fanatical mobs that they would proceed to stone any one who differed from their own reading of the scriptural text. The guardians of Wisdom Divine were thus forced to practise their faith in secret, and they also advised their followers to be cautious and guarded in expression. To revert to the subject, the only way, then, of dying alive, that is to say, of living out death, is to become actively conscious of the inherent Divinity of the Soul. This will fill the interior with Light and Life, and will induce the will to shun the temptations and toys of the external world, thus establishing it firmly in the principle of desirelessness. The body, which is held together by the force of the magnetism of the desiring nature, will be dissolved into its component parts, in the absence of desires, and purity of Spirit will be attained as the culmination of the process of Self-realization. This is how death will be conquered by 'works.' As stated by the apostle, "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1-Cor. xv. 26). This is true, because death does not exist for pure Spirit, that is a simple substance, but is an incident attaching to compounds, that is to say, to embodied existence. The result is the same as described by St. Paul, though he delights here in the use of mystifying expression : "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." *As God,' perhaps, would have been too unambiguous to suit the language of mystics! In any case, the exhortation to the disciple is forceful and grand : "... Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephesians v. 14). This is an exhortation to the individual, certainly not to the mass or masses of men. So is the one in Galatians (Chap. vi. 4-5) which reads : "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

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164 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES "For every man shall bear his own burden." The next two verses also propound the same doctrine : "Be not deceived; God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." No doubt, the man of the world, ignorant of the nature of his soul and of its high destiny, under the deluding influence of the karmic force, looks upon the world as a beautiful sight, capable of gratifying his senses in diverse ways; but Religion has ever pointed out that it is the real source of corruption. Like a harlot that always runs after new admirers and throws them off when tired of them, the world is the seducer of souls, defiling and corrupting them in various ways and in different degrees, and preventing them from turning in the direction of Light which implies everlasting Life. Perpetually and continually are her admirers devoured by her terrible consort, Death, and continually they are made to reappear again on the world-stage to be the plaything of this chief of whores. Notice the caustic style of the apostle when he says (James iv. 4) :-- "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." In John's first Epistle it is said (Chap. ii. 15--17) :"Love not the world, neither the things that are insthe 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 flesh, and the lust of 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." The world, then, is set in a direction diametrically opposite to the Spiritual Path, and he who wishes to pursue the latter will have to deny himself all the pleasure that its goods can afford to the senses. This is renunciation which must culminate in asceticism of the severest type, such as is described in the Jaina Scriptures.

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SEPARATION OF SPIRIT AND MATTER 165 Those who seek salvation from an easy chair should know that pure pious wishes will never conquer death. Only the attainment of immortality can do this, but immortality is only possible when the body which is the compounded effect of Spirit and matter, is altogether separated from the soul. How pregnant with significance are the words of the apostle when he says (1-Cor. xv. 50-51 and 53-54) : "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." As already stated, all this affliction to be suffered is trifling as compared with the gain that shall be obtained. The Bible itself records (2-Cor. iv, 17-18) : "For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far exceeding and eternal weight of glory; "While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." Identically the same idea is expressed in the Epistle to Romans (Chap. viii. 18) : "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." Let the modern arm-chair critic reflect on these great sayings of serious men, which promise to the suffering humanity the attainment of the perfection that is divine and unexcelled-aye, the Perfection which people associate with their loftiest conception of Divinity and God hood!

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166 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES It will be now fully evident that the ideal in view in Christianity is identically the same as that which Jainism has been preaching all along, and that the attainment of it is also declared by these religions to be dependent on the complete separation of Spirit from Matter. The methods of the other religions have already been studied in other works by the present writer, and need not be gone into here afresh. The observations here made are to be taken as supplementing the notes on the Jewish and Christian doctrines examined in my other books, and should, if possible, be read along with them.

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THE CROWN OF SUCCESS WE all want to wear the crown of success. Some would even like to wear it in a glittering bejewelled form, indicating authority. Alas for these dreamers of lovely dreams! In the very nature of things such crowns cannot be 'unrare'! Eager ambition, too, will not find much to admire in them, if they could be had without exertion. Some, the favourites of fortune, are born with a silver at times even with a golden-spoon in the mouth. They soon find themselves decorated with diadems! Human thought is inquisitive, and wishes to know if Good Luck will befriend these men still further. Shall the crowns be retained? And without sweating? Yes! they may be in some cases; sometimes crowns are so retained. These are instances of the golden spoon, bejewelled! But the number of these well-beloved of Dame Fortune is small. There are many who have no spoons placed in their mouths at birth. These are, so to speak, left to their own devices to sink or swim, on their own hook! The worst is the gift of the iron spoon, the mark of madame's frowns! It sticks in the mouth. A whole lifetime may have to be spent before it can be taken out. Often it extends to cover up vision itself. Such a case is truly pitiable. You can only pass by, suppressing your sobs! It is, then, a good thing to win the smiles of the bountiful Dame! But she has also another side to her nature. For men say that she is faithless and fickle, that her smile, for certain, has a withering effect in the end! Relentless in her indifference to consequences, she even plans and plots the downfall of her greatest favourites with a stony heart! Sad, indeed very very sad, at times, is the lot of the Caesars and Czars among her blind admirers! 167

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168 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES The wise man is horror-struck at the orgies of such fitful love. He has observed how the fickle Dame plays with her lovers; he has learnt the true nature of her seductive wiles. He therefore does not allow his senses to be fired with the warmth of her kisses. Her fragrant breath is powerless to steal away his wits. Thus alonethen alone is she overcome-enslaved ! Fortune, dear child, is only a metaphor. She is only the lovely reward of a lovely deed performed in the past! But you cannot expect any greater value than a howrie-worth of reward for a Kowrie worth of merit from nature. As soon as your Kowrie's worth is exhausted, there is an end to the beaming of smiling eyes for you! This is why fortune is fickle and capricious. Begging and praying can only place you in the lap of fickle fortunes and faithless goddesses. But success depends on one's own exertion. If you are thoughtful, you, too, will know that the path of success lies not through the favour of any real or imaginary goddesses and gods, but consists in the triple confluence of the heavenly streams of Right Faith (that is, Right Beliefs), Right Knowledge and Right Conduct! erznagingia anfangi mngari: (The Jaina Bible, i.e., Tattvartha Sutra I. 1.) Thus alone will you become worthy to wear a chaplet of unfading glory on your brow. Kowrie means a small shell.

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THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA The doctrine of Karma is an integral part of religion, and is preached, in some form or other, by almost every rational creed. It is in Jainism, however, that one finds it placed on a scientific basis, and explained on lines of rational thought. To understand its nature, it is first of all necessary to know that Jainism is the science of bliss which enables its votaries to attain to the status and dignity of Paramatman (God), who is the ideal of perfection for man to aspire to. Jainism maintains that spirit and matter are two of the ultimate substances in nature, that is to say, that they are both separate and distinct from each other and are both eternal, uncreate and indestructible. So far as matter is concerned, we are all more or less familiar with its attributes, but spirit is characterised by consciousness, and is the substance (dravya) which knows and feels. Looked at from the standpoint of its real nature, every spirit, or soul, is endowed with infinite capacity for 'development in respect of knowledge and bliss and other divine qualities, but studied from the view-point of manifested nature the unemancipated soul is involved in the impurity of sin which debars it from the enjoyment of its natural perfection and divinity. The bearing of these two points of view on each other is precisely the field covered by the doctrine of karma, which is the subject-matter of the present article. We shall begin our study with the natural properties of spirit, and see how far the claim that the soul is endowed with omniscience and bliss is a well-founded one. To begin with bliss, a little reflection suffices to demonstrate that the soul cannot but be blissful by nature, since happiness is a condition which arises only from within its own constitution. Obviously, no such thing as happiness exists anywhere outside in the world, so that if we were to search for it outside our own souls, from now to the end of the world, we should be only looking for a mare's nest. It is true that the objects of the senses 169

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170 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES exist outside us in the world, but it is no less true that none of them constitutes happiness, which is purely and simply a state of our own consciousness. That this is so, will become evident to any one who will but take the trouble to ascertain the source of the feeling of happiness or joy which we feel when we pass successfully through some trying ordeal, e.g., a university examination. The question is: whence arises the feeling of exhilaration which is experienced on the receipt of the telegraphic message assuring us of our success? Does it arise from the peculiar size or colour of the paper on which the message is scribbled ? No, for most obviously neither the paper, nor its size, nor even its colour is capable of producing a similar effect on another being. Neither would the very same paper be productive of joy in our own case should the message: it conveyed be a disappointing one. Perhaps happiness is contained in the language or the words of the message ? But even this proves: to be a false surmise, for unless one believed the statement of fact conveyed to be true, one would not experience the feeling characteristic of joy. What, then, is joy, and whence does it arise ? Analysis reveals the important fact that joy is nothing other than an inalienable attribute of the soul itself, so that it only arises from within our own being. Reflection also discloses the fact that: happiness arises only with the cessation of some irksome obligation, task, duty or burden, and then only for so long as another task or burden is not imposed on the soul. The lawyer who feels joy on being called to the bar begins to experience a very different kind of feeling as soon as he desires to reap the practical benefits of his success. It may be pointed out that there are three kinds of pleasures, or joy, and two of pain, namely, physical pleasure, mental pleasure and spiritual pleasure, and mental and physical kinds of pain. There is no such thing as spiritual pain. Spiritual pleasure is the true happiness which arises only when the soul is left free to itself. It then feels its own life-pulsations that stand for pure joy. Physical pleasure results from the contact between the senses and external things; and mental pleasure from mental pictures called up by the imagination. Mental pain, likewise, arises from dwelling, in imagi

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THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA nation, on certain images or associations of images; and physical pain is the actual pain that springs directly from painful physical causes. Whenever there is present in the consciousness a feeling of pain and there are no physical causes present to account for its. production, it is due to the mind's dwelling on associations that are painful or disagreeable in the extreme. Similarly the presence of a sensation of pleasure in the absence of physical causes cannot but be due to the presence in the imagination of mental pictures that are of an extremely agreeable nature. Spiritual happiness, however, arises only when the soul is rid of the physical objects and of their mental counterparts, that is to say, of images, both, and is left free to itself, to feel its natural condition or state, which, as stated before, is purely joyous. It should be noted that both the kinds of pain and. the corresponding two kinds of pleasures, that is to say, the physical and the mental types of pleasure and pain, are, in their nature, only sensations, real or imaginary, of which those of the pleasant typeare agreeable and the other disagreeable. But spiritual pleasure is not a sensation; as it is independent of the senses; and does not arise from a contact with real or imaginary things. It is an emotion, the emotion of freedom, that implies nothing if not freedom from. an external troublesome imposition, whether real or imaginary. The schoolboy who feels joy, on hearing of his success, does so because the tidings has brushed aside all those disturbing mental pictures. which were filling his mind in connection with a possible failure, leaving him 'severely' alone. The type of happiness which he then feels is thus neither sense-produced nor imaginary, but spiritual which comes from within. Should mental pictures arise in his mind in connection with the idea of success, the type of happiness will then be changed instantly into mental pleasure. The principle to be deduced from these facts is that happiness is. the natural state of the soul which is marred or manifested according as the individual consciousness is agitated and swayed by desires or freed from their influence. The soul is, then, a pure embodiment of joy, which is realizable and realized fully only when all its desires are destroyed. The same is the case with knowledge, which, like happiness, consists in the states of our own consciousness. For nothing like 171

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172 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES knowledge has a concrete existence in the outside world, so that our awareness of things is primarily the awareness of our own states. Reflection, no doubt, reveals the fact that these states of consciousness are occasioned by the external stimulus operating on the soul, the living principle or consciousness; but it is clear that the sense of awareness itself is actually a state of our own being and is only invoked from within. Neither the senses of a knowing being nor the stimulus from without constitute knowledge in any sense of the term. The eye contains no more awareness within it than the lens of a photographic camera, nor is the current of vibrations that impinge upon it charged or loaded with knowledge any more than the rays of light which being reflected reproduce an inverted image of their source on the ground glass. The truth is that the soul is a substance which nature has endowed with awareness, and it knows and feels its conditions and states. The photographic apparatus is not so endowed with the capacity to know and feel its modifications, and is consequently devoid of knowledge and conscious states. Now, since nothing that is not proved to exist can be admitted to be existing and since all that is provable is knowable, it follows that knowability is an attribute of existence. Hence, all things are knowable, that is to say, that which will never be known to anybody at all must be non-existent. But what is known to one soul is also knowable by another, there being no difference between one soul and another in respect of the natural properties of the soul substance. It follows from this that each and every soul possesses the power to know all things, so that knowledge unlimited by time and space must be attributed to every living being, however much that knowledge might remain unmanifested owing to individual circumstances and conditions. In plain terms, every soul is omniscient by nature. Nature has also endowed* every soul with immortality, for souls are simple things, not made up of parts which might disintegrate or * Like modern Science, Jainism does not believe in the existence of a creator, holding that if nature could produce such a being-(otherwise we should have a maker of our supposed maker and another maker of that maker, and so forth ad infinitum et absurdum)-there is nothing surprising in its producing a world that is self-sufficient and capable of progress and evolution. This simply means that if a creator can be supposed to exist without having been created by any one, it implies no violation of the laws of thought to posit a world which is self-sufficient and self-existing.

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THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA 173 fall apart. The simplicity of the soul is evident from the fact that it is pure consciousness in essence so that if it were made up of parts, it would be a compound of many consciousnesses. But this is directly falsified by facts of observation, since no one has yet perceived many consciousnesses functioning in his being. All our conscious experiences, it is necessary to note, are individualistic; there is not the faintest trace of a congregational unity in any or all of the feelings, willing, memory, inference, and the like, in which our life truly consists. If many consciousnesses combined to form a being, there would be not one act of perception, but many, corresponding to the number of parts of which a soul might be composed. We, therefore, conclude that the soul is a simple, hence an indestructible substance; in plain language, it is immortal by nature. The decreeing of Blissfulness, Omniscience and Immortality in favour of the soul is tantamount to declaring it to be its own God, since these are the principal attributes of Divinity. But the question is: why are not these divine properties manifested in the being of each and every soul, considering that they are its own properties and have not to be acquired from outside itself. In order to be able to formulate an answer to this all-important question, we must acquaint ourselves with what we have termed the point of view of manifested nature which is concerned with the matters involved in the problem. Looked at from this particular standpoint, the soul is a reincarnating ego which passes from "life" to "life" in an unbroken succession, till nirvana be attained. This is evident from the fact that the soul is immortal by nature, so that it must have had a past, however much it might be ignorant of it in its present incarnation. The nature of memory, of the causes that obstruct it and of the process of its recovery have been explained in the Key of Knowledge to which the reader is referred in this connection. But when even the events of a few moments back are forgotten and cannot be recalled by us, what is there surprising in our inability to recollect anything of a past which has been since followed up by wholesale constitutional changes in our existence? Immortal by nature, the soul must have been in existence throughout.

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174 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES the beginningless eternity of time in the past, just as surely as it will continue to exist in the future. But the soul could not have existed in the past as a pure spirit, for in that case it would be impossible for it to be born in the world. As said in the Practical Path : "In respect of the causes of ensoulment of a jiva (soul) in the body of matter it is to be observed that in its natural purity the soul is the enjoyer of perfect wisdom, unlimited perception, infinite power and unbounded happiness, which, in the absence of a restraining force or body of some kind, must be deemed to be manifested in the fullest degree in its nature. The idea of such a perfect being descending to inhabit a body of flesh and thereby crippling its natural unlimited perfection in a number of is too absurd to be entertained for a moment. It follows from this that the soul did not exist in a condition of perfection prior to its present incarnation, and that the existence of some force capable of dragging jivas into different wombs is a condition precedent to their birth in the several grades of life. But how shall we conceive force operating on a soul and dragging it into an organism, if not as the action of some kind of matter? It is, therefore, clear that the soul has always been in union with some kind of matter in the past." It is the influence of matter, then, which is responsible for all those conditions of the soul which are not natural to a pure spirit. For the fusion of substances always results in the limitation or suspension of their pure natural functions, e.g., hydrogen and oxygen which are deprived of their gaseous nature so long as they remain locked up in the embrace of each other, as water. But it is not a case of actual destruction or annihilation of an attribute, because the separation of substances is marked by the immediate restoration of their natural properties in full. We may now formulate a reply to the all-important question which necessitated the present investigation from the standpoint of manifested nature : the divine attributes of pure spirit are not manifested in the case of an unredeemed, that is to say, an unemancipated soul because of its union with matter, which, combining with it, prevents it from exercising its natural function The union of spirit and matter is always fraught with pain and misery for the soul even under the best of circumstances, though in some rare cases moments of pleasure preponderate, for a time, over those of pain, owing to the fruition of good karmas (meritorious deeds).

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THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA 175 The fusion of spirit and matter results in the production of eight different kinds of forces, namely : (1) those which obstruct knowledge (jnanavarniya), (2) those which interfere with perception (darsanavarniya), (3) those that obstruct right beliefs or faith (mohaniya), (4) those that regulate the experiences of pleasure and pain (vedaniya), (5) those which are responsible for the organising of the different kinds of bodies and bodily limbs (nama karmas), 6) those that determine the duration of life (ayah karmas), (7) those that determine the gotra -- lineage, etc.,--of the indivi dual) gotra karmas), and (8) those which interfere with the doing of what is desired and prevent effectiveness generally (antaraya karmas). Observation shows that these are the only eight particulars in respect of which living beings differ from one another, though there are many subdivisions of karmic energies under each head. Of these eight kinds of forces, those that obstruct knowledge, perception, faith (that is to say, right convictions or beliefs), and power are called ghatiya karmas, because they obstruct, limit and suspend the operation of the natural functions of the soul-substance. The others are called aghatiya la, not+ghatiya, obstructive), because they do not interfere with the natural attributes of the soul, but are concerned with the organising of the different kinds of bodies and with such matters and things---longevity, status, etc., etc.,--that depend on them. The bondage of the soul consists primarily in the former, because they are inimical to its well-being, and though the latter also stand in the way of one's reaching nirvana, they are, as it were, only the offspring of the former on whose destruction they come to an end, in due course of time, like the flame of a lamp on the exhaustion of its oil. How are these karmas engendered ? and how may they be destroyed ? are the next important problems in the metaphysics of Life. These are the questions which have given rise to what are technically known as tattvas (essentials or ultimate points, i.e., - subjects).

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176 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES The tattvas are seven in number, and arise naturally in the course of investigation. Deliverance of the soul from the power and forces of 'sin' being the end in view, the first thing to know is the nature of that which is to be freed-whether it be capable of being liberated ? Whether it will survive the operation, etc., etc. The very first point for study, then, is the nature of the soul, which, for that reason, constitutes the first tattva-Jiva. The next thing to know is the nature of the material of which the chains of captivity are made-whether they can be destroyed? whether their destruction be desirable? and the like. The second tattva, accordingly, is what is known as Ajiva (literally, the nonliving, or not-soul). The next thing to know is how comes the ajiva to approach or encroach upon the jiva? This is called asrava, which is consequently our third tattva. The next point is the determination of the principle or law which regulates the forging of karmic bonds. This is bandha (bondage) and covers such matters as the duration, intensity, etc., of the forces of karma. The fifth and the sixth tattvas are called samvara and nirjara respectively. The first of these is concerned with the stoppage of fresh asrava. and the second, with the destruction of the existing bonds. Taken together, they deal with the method of liberating the soul from the thraldom of karma. The seventh tattva is concerned with the nature of the resulting state of freedom or liberation-moksha. Whether it be a condition to be desired? what is the status of the liberated Soul? and all other similar questions, which have a bearing upon the conditions of existence in nirvana, fall under this head. These are the seven tattvas, and they cover the entire field of enquiry. The jiva is held in captivity by the companionship of ajiva and is undergoing all kinds of suffering and pain. How may this fatal companionship be terminated ?-is the one problem of Life which is to be solved. Religion is the SCIENCE which concerns itself with the solution of this problem, and the tattvas are the heads, or essentials, of knowledge under which the subject naturally divides and presents itself for treatment. They are the only subjects the knowledge of which counts for our well-being; he who does not

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THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA 177 know them, might know much else, but he knows nothing worth knowing. As for the nature of these tattvas, we have already dealt with the first and the second of them, and the seventh has also been discussed to a certain extent by necessary implication. Of the remaining four, the third and the fourth relate to the union of spirit and matter, and the fifth and the sixth to their separation from one another. We shall take up these remaining tattvas one by one and explain them as briefly as we can. The third tattva is asrava, which signifies the influx of matter towards the soul. Obviously, spirit and matter must come together before they can become fused with one another. This coming together, that is, the influx of matter towards the soul, is what is known as asrava. The law which governs it is as follows: all actions of embodied living beings, whether mental or physical, including speech, are accompanied by an influx of matter towards the soul. This is fully borne out by observation which shows that an external stimulus is necessary to give rise to sensation. If the external stimulus be cut off, there will be no knowledge of the object. That this stimulus from the object in the outside world is material in nature is not disputed by any one, and has been amply demonstrated by modern science. What, however, we have got to study in this connection is the part which attention plays in the production of knowledge. The effect of want of attention on the part of the soul is apparent in the case of food when its relish is not noticed or enjoyed in the least. The physiology of taste seems to indicate that while the bulk of food passes into the stomach through the gullet, some finer particles of its relish reach the soul through the glands of taste and the nerves connected with them, enabling it to feel and enjoy the taste of each morsel. But these relish particles must be there all the same whether the soul attend to them or not. This is clearly indicative of the fact that they do not combine with the soul except when they find the door open and the chamber-maid of the soul waiting to take them into the presence of her mistress. This maid-in-waiting is attention, which signifies interest of some sort or other-whether it indicate the merest wish to know or the most passionate longing to 12

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178 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES embrace and enjoy. It follows from this that the fusion of spirit and matter cannot take place unless the soul be first thrown into an attitude of desire, signifying its readiness to receive and embrace the intruders from without, who readily combine with it. This gives us what may be termed the second law of interaction between spirit and matter, which may be formulated in the following terms: the fusion of spirit and matter cannot take place, except when the soul is thrown into a condition of expectancy, i.e., agitation. The fusion of spirit and matter, as already stated, is always fraught with evil consequences for the soul, and prevents its natural properties from manifesting themselves. In union with matter, the soul resembles a pond fed by three channels (to correspond to the three sources of asrava, namely, the mind, speech and the body), in which changes constantly occur in consequence of the influx and evaporation of water, for while fresh asrava of matter is constantly taking place on the one hand, the old material is being consumed in the natural course on the other. This is due to the fact that no compounds are absolutely eternal in nature, so that wherever there is a combination of two or more things, they must fall apart in due course of time, owing to the operation of physical laws. We may now proceed to a consideration of the fourth tattva, that is, bandha. It will be evident to all thinking minds with reference to this tattva, that while the fusion of substances is restrictive of their natural function, new properties are brought into being by virtue of their union. This holds good also in the case of the companionship of spirit and matter. Of the eight kinds of the karmic forces already described, the ghatiya karmas mark the limits imposed by the association of matter on the soul-substance, while the aghatiya ones are the offspring of a soul impregnated by the element of the otherthan-itself. The aghatiya karmas comprise all those divers energies which are responsible for the making of the different kinds of bodies. and bodily limbs and those that regulate the experiences of pleasure and pain, as well as those that determine the term, or duration, of the lease of life and the status of the individual in his tribe and class. All these forces reside in what is technically known as the karmana sarira (literally, the body of karmas), which is a compound of

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THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA 179 spirit and matter. This karmana sarira is the vehicle of transmigration, and passes from life to life. There are periodic changes taking place mechanically in the constitution of this inner body or vestment of the soul, and the form and conditions of the next incarnation of life are determined by the new set of energies which arise in consequence of these changes. This is how nature forces the fruit of its actions on the soul, which the soul has no power to resist, except with the help of dharma (religion). No judge or magistrate is required nicely to adjust and determine the rewards and punishments merited by living beings; they adjust themselves, most accurately, mechanically. The karmana sarira is modified by action, and itself determines the type and conditions of the next incarnation. As Mr. J. L. Jaini observes ("Outlines of Jainism," p. 29) : "It is not fate, nor even predestination : but it is the ever-continuous balancing of the different accounts that we keep with the forces of life. There can be no mistake, no suppression, and no evasion. The credit and debit sides go on automatically; and whatever is due to us is paid us ungrudgingly and without demand. The continuity cannot be broken by change of house; the debts of London are not extinguished by going to Berlin: nor is the liquidation suspended till the Day of Judgment. The karmas are not extinguished simply because we give up the body called A. When we are dead as A, the karmas must still bear full fruits. The karmas constitute the karmic body; and it drags us into another state of being." What is this karmic body, the karmana sarira, which plays such an important part in the scheme of transmigration? We have already said that it is the compound of spirit and matter, the effect of the union of the soul with the non-soul, the resultant of its actions. It is invisible to the eye, though it is the summation of our character, what we are and what we have been. It is also the seed of rebirth, the determining factor in the life to come-what we shall be. Its absence will make it impossible for the soul to incarnate in flesh and blood ; for he who is free from the crippling companionship of matter must be pure divinity in actual manifestation, and there is no power in nature which can drag a God into bondage and transmigration. The next tattva is samvara, which signifies the stoppage of asrava. When the influx of fresh karmic material has ceased, it becomes easy to destroy the existing bonds. The process of the destruction of karmic bonds is known as nirjara which is the point

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180 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES covered by the sixth tattva. Taken together, both samvara and nirjara aim at the liberation of the soul from the condition of bondage, installing it on the coveted Central Seat in the Temple of Divinity in Nirvana. The principle underlying both these tattvas is a corollary to the second of the two great laws of interaction between spirit and matter, as formulated above. As the fusion of spirit and matter takes place by virtue of desire, the giving up of individual desires clearly is the one and the only means of freeing the soul from the impurities adhering to it. For this reason, both samvara and nirjara consist in rules of conduct which enable the soul to destroy its bonds by controlling its desires. The soul that is anxious for speedy liberation must therefore, apply itself to subjugate its animal nature, instead of wasting its opportunity in dancing attendance on, or vainly appealing for help to, some real or imaginary god or goddess. As for the rules of conduct laid down for the eradication of the animal nature, the space at our disposal does not admit of our describing them in detail. They can be studied in other works which deal with the subject scientifically. The main thing to note in this connection is that there is a given order, a graduated series of steps, so to speak, which must be followed if steady progress is to be maintained. As said in the Introduction to the Householder's Dharma : "Renunciation, that is, the withdrawal of attention from the outside world, the giving up of all worldly persuits and undertakings, the abandonment of all desires, then, is the principle of success on the spiritual path. But the question is, how to develop the spirit of renunciation in such a way as to ensure its sustentation ? Erratic action will not do; the top cannot be reached by haphazard jumps and flights in the air. A ladder must be found which will take one, step by step, to the top, and save all the falls and bruises consequent on them." Jainism furnishes just such a ladder as will enable the distressed soul to rise from the gutter of wretchedness and sin to the high and the sublime status pertaining to Divinity; but it must be lived to be productive of good. There is no good in upsetting the order given ; that will only result in suffering and pain. To quote again from the Householder's Dharma: "It is well to know that Jainism is not the product of a finite mind whose conclusions might be overruled by others endowed

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181 THE JAINA THEORY OF KARMA with better judgment and understanding; it is the Truth revealed by the Omniscient Tirthamkaras, every single detail of which has been confirmed by the experiences of a countless number of Siddhas (Perfect Souls) and Saints. Its agreement with reason is indicative of its rational nature, but not suggestive of an origination from a finite human intellect." The effect of samvara and nirjara is the complete removal of the particles of matter adhering to and in union with the soul, which being accomplished the jiva (soul) is left as a pure spirit, whole, effulgent and worshipful, like pure, shining gold, separated from the impurities of alloy. This is moksha, the seventh and last tattva. The Saved One now rises up to the topmost part of the universe, called the Siddha Sila and resides there for ever, possessed of all divine attributes--eternal life, omniscience and the like--and in the full enjoyment of unbounded, unabating bliss. This is nirvana, the attainment to the ideal of perfection and joy. Such is the Jaina doctrine of kurma, which, for obvious reasons, has been described with the utmost brevity in these pages. Jainism, it will be seen, does not recognise any god or goddess to be appeased or propitiated for one's good, but appproaches the subject in the spirit of pure science, investigating and dealing with it on lines of cause and effect throughout. Of all the creeds now prevailing in the world Jainism is the only religion that places the doctrines of karma, transmigration and salvation on a scientific, and, therefore, thoroughly rational basis. Some of the other creeds, indeed, have no idea whatsoever of what the bondage of the soul might signify, and there are others that openly preach to the contrary. Those amongst the remaining systems that profess to preach the doctrine know little or nothing about it on lines of scientific thought, and exhaust themselves in elaborating fanciful theories of their own which are beside the point, and which only tend to make the confusion worse confounded. The elaborate' doctrines of others, no doubt, at times seem to approach the Jaina conclusions, but they only proceed upon vague generalities and wordy abstractions. Unscientific at core, they betray their intellectual poverty, if carefully probed and examined.

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INSTINCT (Sanjna) THE primary instincts (from in on, and stinguo to sting) are four according to Jainism. These are as follows: (i) Ahara (food) (ii) Bhaya (fear) (iii) Maithuna (sexual craving), and (iv) Parigraha (possession or acquisition). * These are the main moving causes of individual activity. All other tendencies and traits of character arise from their modification. The instincts represent what may be termed the conative side of life. As McDougall points out, the self is a vast organization of conative dispositions which is character, while attention is to be understood as conation revealing itself in cognition (An Introduction to Social Psychology, p. 377). An animal has little or no character; he only conducts himself according to his inborn tendencies. The man who has not succeeded in controlling his movements is but an animal in human form, and no better than a member of cattledom' at large; in the worst cases he will be termed a brute. But as we rise higher and higher in the degree of self-control, character begins to shape itself, till the saint is regarded as the culmination of what is deliberately good. Character, thus, consists in the element of self-control, that is to say, in the curbing of one's desires and lusts, which are the moving causes of embodied existence. In a somewhat narrower sense, character also indicates some persisting trait manifesting itself in the conduct of a human being. Thus understood character is revealed to be a modification of the will. According to Schopenhauer, all living things are expressions of the will, i.e., the elan vitae or life, and each specifically directed conative tendency is a differentiation of this fundamental will-to-live. And McDougall concedes that: each or ganism is endowed, according to its species, with a certain number and variety of conative dispositions, or latent tendencies to action, as a part of its hereditary equipment for the battle of life; and in the 182 66

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INSTINCT (SANJNA) 183 course of its life these may undergo certain modifications and differentiations" (Loc. cit., p. 361). Modern Psychology avoids the question about the future life, and is, therefore, not concerned with the function of the conative disposition, i.e., the will, after death, but Religion points out that the conative dispositions, which constitute the nucleus of character, are themselves the forces that operate to organize a new body for the soul. This is justified from Schopenhauer's observation which shows that all living things are expressions of the will (i.e., character). These conative dispositions are, during life, either latent or active. In the latter case, they lead to different kinds of experiences, which become the modifiers of character, differently in different constitutions. Differences of constitution arise from the elements of (i) intensity, (ii) persistence, and (iii) affectability, which may be high or low. These combined in different ways give rise to eight different kinds of temperaments as follows (Introduction to Social Psychology, page 449): 1. high intensity+high persistence + low affectability most steadfast and confident temperament; 2 low intensity + low persistence +high affectability-the fickle and shallow; 3. high intensity+high affectability+low persistence=the violent and unstable; 4. high intensity+low affectability+low persistence=the despondent; 5. high affectability+low intensity+high persistence=the anxious; 6. high affectability + high persistence+high intensity=the hopeful; 7. high persistence + low affectability + low intensity-the placid; 8. low affectability + low persistence+low intensity=the sluggish temperament.

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184 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Character is modified by experience generally and especially by individual convictions; and modified character is the seed of rebirth, as shown in the "Key of Knowledge" and the "Practical Path" and other works on Religion. Thus does the soul pass from life to death, and death to life again in the course of its transmigration till the instincts are destroyed by the final dissolution of the body, which signifies complete separation between Spirit and Matter. This devoutly-wished for end is to be achieved by the strengthening of the moral volition which is really character in action in the direction of morality. " The eradication of instinctive impulsion is not possible in the animal or in the case of a member of the lower kingdoms. Man alone may aspire to it, because he can curb down and modify his desires by an effort of will, which is almost counter-indicated in the case of animals. As regards the progeny of desire, it directly gives rise to greed, deceit, pride and anger which are the four most powerful emotions. For greed is practically but another name for excessive desire; deceit is the cunning resorted to to obtain a desired object; pride arises from the possession of what is desirable; and anger blazes up when one is thwarted in the middle of the process of obtaining or enjoying an object of desire. From another point of view, love is the strongest tie of attachment for a living being, or thing, and hatred, the reverse of this, and love and hatred themselves lend their tinge to almost all other states of feeling. Thus, Admiration wonder + submission of attraction. Awe admiration + fear. Reverence awe + love. Gratitude love+submission. Scorn disgust+anger. Contempt disgust+self-assertion. Loathing fear + disgust. Horror the most intense form of loathing. Fascination wonder+ loathing. Envy anger+submission. Reproach love+anger. -

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INSTINCT (SANJNA) Anxiety love+anticipatory pain. Jealousy love+instinct of possession + injured self-assertiveness. Revenge self-feeling+insult, i.e., angry self-assertion with rankling ill-will. Resentment angry repudiation of a slur cast, or an insult offered. Chagrin the sense of annoyance at the prosperity of a hated object. Shame self-regarding sentiment + a consciousness of deficiency. Bashfulness self-display+self-abasement. 185 Pity love+ sympathy. Confidence desire working towards its end without fear of obstruction. Hope lessened confidence, with or without enthusiasm. Anxiety doubt assailing hope. Despondency the state when hope is disappearing in the face of growing difficulties. Despair the realization of the utter hopelessness of the situation. Distress the feeling of utter helplessness. Regret despair+the feeling that something that should have been done has not been done. Remorse regret + self-reproach. Sorrow regret + love. Pugnacity self-assertiveness+ either fear. the sexual instinct or the instinct of acquisition. Curiosity fear+attraction. Self-display, Self-assertiveness, The parental instinct is a modification of the sexual instinct or a combination of the sexual and social instincts. The gregarious instinct is a modification of the primary sanjna fear. are modifications of the sexual instinct. The above arrangement is mostly in agreement with the views of the thoughtful English psychologist, one of whose works on the subject has already been referred to in this article; but I have differed from his view in respect of certain instincts which he regards

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186 as primary, e.g., the gregarious instinct. It will not be possible for me to discuss the point adequately in a short article like this, but it seems to me that this instinct could not be regarded as a primary instinct in any case, for it is not to be found in all species of life and is adequately explained as the modification of the instinct of fear. The same is the case with the parental instinct which would seem to be a complex of the sexual instinct. ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES Metaphysically, the variety of emotions are capable of classification under the heads of attraction and repulsion, as so well shown in Babu Bhagwan Das's valuable work, the "Science of Emotions." On the side of attraction we have reverence, comprising worship, veneration, respect, which are manifestations of that emotion for the superior being; love, appearing as good will, friendship, passion, for the equal; and benevolence, including tenderness, pity and compassion, for the inferior. On the side of repulsion are ranged fear for the superior, hatred for the equal, and scorn, or pride, for the inferior. Apprehension, terror, horror are some of the manifestations of fear; choler, rage, wrath, of hatred; and superciliousness, contempt and disdain, of pride or scorn. From these diverse manifestations of attraction and repulsion spring marked traits of character which pass by different names. For instance, we have obedience, truthfulness, trustfulness and loyalty-springing from the feeling of reverence; confidence, candour, contentment, sympathy, honesty, from love; holiness, tenderness, charity, toleration, from benevolence; servility, lying, treachery, rebelliousness, from fear; fury, misunderstanding, unkindness, moroseness, from anger; and hypocrisy, malignity, prudery, exactingness, from pride. The above are some of the different kinds of feelings which arise as the effect of the interplay of emotion and belief in the mind. They are all complex in their nature and capable of undergoing change, with the change of attitude towards their object or objects. But the root causes that are capable of putting the sensory-motor mechanism of the living organism into motion are only four, as is evident from the above enumeration and treatment of the subject. These are the same as described in the Jaina Siddhanta, namely, ahara (food), bhaya (fear), maithuna (sexual appetition), and parigraha (love of acquisition).

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THE SYSTEM OF SYADVADA grnh bynd brwz shyr chshm - chshmh aftb r chh gnh [If the bat's eye is unable to perceive the glories of nature during the day,-- What fault therein of the Fountain of Light in the Sun ?) Many people have found fault with the system of Syadvada, and even today there are men of education and culture who have not found aught but puerile wriggling and wrangling in it. Many of these men who have thus fallen foul of it are sincere thinkers, so that it is not possible to attribute the condemnation of the doctrine to bigotry and religious prejudice in each and every case. Yet Syadvada is simplicity itself and an essential element of true metaphysics. Why it has not met with the appreciation its merit entitles it to, is due to two causes in the main, namely, firstly, the lack of exact thought on the part of the thinking men generally, and, secondly, to the eccentric vagary of the human mind that delights in the discomfiture and bafflement rather than the enlightenment of an opponent, in argument. The first of these causes will also tend to become accentuated by the natural human tendency to ridicule a pet theory of a rival Faith, and the present tendency of modern culture, that encourages expression even at the cost of deliberation, is not unlikely to add its venom to a sense of hatred, or repugnance, for a creed of seeming 'contraries' which the Jainas delight in postulating, in the most bewildering way, and which appears, at first sight, to be nothing more than a glib denial of definiteness to thought and basic firmness to nature and nature's work. It is characteristic of the human mind that it is ever prone to condemn what it has not understood or what is beyond its normal ken. Hence, we are not surprised at the condemnation of the Syadvada by such men even as Prof. S. K. Belvalkar (see "The Undercurrents of Jainism"). As already stated, the modern tendency 187

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188 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES is to encourage expression rather than reflection and sobriety of thought; and the modern illuminati delight to assert their opinion where the ancients would have hesitated even to open their lips. We are told in the article alluded to above : "The dogmatic part of Jain Philosophy is altogether irreconcilable when taken in conjunction with its dialectical part, viz., the famous Syadvada theory. As is well-known, this theory denies the possibility of any predication : S may be, or may not be, or may both be and not be P. With such a purely negative or agnostic attitude one cannot afford to have any dogma; and Shankaracharya lays his finger accurately on the weakest point in the system when he says:-' As thus the means of knowledge, the object of knowledge, the knowing subject, and the act of knowledge, are all alike indefinite, how can the Tirthamkara teach with any claim to authority, and how can His followers act on a doctrine the matter of which is altogether indeterminate ?""" Such is the expression of opinion of some of the non-Jaina thinkers about the value and worth of the Syadvada. We shall try to determine the merit of the doctrine in this article to ascertain whether the fault lies in the bat's eye that is not able to perceive things at noonday sun or whether there be in reality nothing to perceive in the shape of the 'glories of Nature.' Now, there is a marked conflict between the object and in our description of it. The main differences consist (1) in respect of the entirety of bundles of attributes and qualities which are present in the object all at once, but which human speech can only deal with one by one, and (2) in respect, of the negative qualities which human thought discovers and locates in the object, but which the object refuses to be burdened with. The first of these causes of conflict between human speech and the object in nature only too obvious to need any further explanation, for howsoever small or insignificant an object, it is nevertheless the repository of an infinity of attributes a great many of which are not even known to man. The second cause needs elucidation here. That Nature abhors vacuum is a well-known principle of science, and is recognized by all. But it is not generally realized that nature also abhors a negation, and will not tolerate it on any condition. Of course, nothing but what is endowed with existence can possibly

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THE SYSTEM OF SYADVADA 189 exist in nature ; for really nature only signifies the phases and aspects of existence itself. Hence all things are simply affirmances of existence and in no sense a negation thereof. This is the rigid rule of being, and it does not admit of a single exception. Whoever wishes to philosophise about nature must, therefore, always keep its living aspect in mind. Human speech and human expression, however, constantly disregard this affirmative aspect of nature, both in philosophical thought and in elegant diction. We not only take the object as we find it, but we go farther and clothe it with a number of metaphysical attributes and relations which are pure abstractions formed in the mind. Some of these mental attributes are of a negative aspect, and cannot, of course, be found in the concrete object, e.g., a horse is not only a horse for the thoughtful mind, but it is also the negation of the cow, the buffalo, the donkey, the monkey, man, etc., ... till the entire list of the class not-horse is exhausted. The object, however, does not adapt itself to human thought in this respect, and by the flat denial it gives to the artificial conceptions of men, by its own eternally affirmative appearance, it is ever ready to overthrow the half realistic, half conceptual edifice of human speculation, unless care be taken to guard against the calamity from the very outset. Besides the two above-mentioned cases of disharmony between the object and human speech, there is another which is a constant trouble to the metaphysician. For we not only invest the object with abstract and negative qualities in thought but also resort to misleading phraseology which would be altogether unwarranted except for the fact that it is sanctioned by the rules of elegant diction and speech and long-established usage. Now, we have seen how Swami Shankaracharya and Prof. Belvalkar both object to the position of the Jaina Philosophy in the passage quoted from the 'Undercurrents of Jainism'-"S may be, or may not be, or may both be and not be, P." The proposition is an eternal puzzle to the untrained mind that has failed to notice the conflict between the concrete object and its description in human speech. Yet, this is the very form in which nature presents herself to

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190 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES the human mind for conceptual thought. Let us see this illustrated. Strychnine is one of the things that are fatal to life. It has killed many men, and many persons have taken it to commit suicide. From their point of view, it is the destroyer of life. Nevertheless strychnine also acts as the restorer of health, and consequently as the preserver of life, and many persons bear grateful testimony to its curative properties. From the point of view of these men strychnine is not the destroyer of life. We thus have : (1) S is poison when considered with respect to the cases of those that have been killed by it. (2) Sis not poison when considered with reference to the cases of those who have been cured by it. HENCE S may be P and S may not be P at the same time. Whether we consider the value of S with respect to the individuals who have been affected by it or with respect to the doses in which it was administered, the result will remain the same, since in some cases S will be P and in some not P. This gives us the first two propositions of the Jaina Syadvada. The third proposition arises, when we wish to define S not with respect to a small number of cases where it has acted as a poison nor with respect to those where it has acted as the preserver of health and life, but with respect to all cases indiscriminately, at one and the same time. The question is: what is it to be termed then? Here we are not considering its definition with reference to a particular group of facts where it is known to have killed men, nor with respect to another group of facts where it is known to have acted in a different way, but with respect to all such possible groups at one and the same time. If we now answer the question by saying that S is P (Poison), the answer is not descriptive of the entirety of the attributes of S. Similarly, if we say 'S is not P,' it will not be defining the object of enquiry fully, and will only yield half-truths that might prove to be very dangerous, in certain cases. Thus what was true from a particular point of view, that is, with respect to certain cases, is not true from the general point of view. Should we, then, say

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THE SYSTEM OF SYADVADA 191 that in some cases S is P, and in some other cases S is not P? But this is really evading the question, inasmuch as it gives us the results of enquiry with regard to two limited groups of facts, and does not answer the question that is put from the point of view of all cases at once. We know S is P in some cases, and S is not P in some other cases; but we are not asking that now. What we ask now is: what is S generally (that is, in all cases)? Shall we seek to answer this with the observation that it depends. on the dosage, or in some such other way? This again will be an evasion, for in metaphysics we must have a direct answer to a direct question, and not a diplomatic shunting off the track. Here we are brought face to face for the first time with the shortcomings of human speech which has no single word to express the thought that is surging up in the mind, in answer to the question. as regards the nature of S generally. For while the mind is fully conscious of the nature of the action of S generally, speech fails it completely when its aid is sought to express the notion in words. Whoever will dwell adequately on the question: what is S generally, i.e., in respect of all cases-whether it is P or not P ?-will soon understand the third category of the Jaina Metaphysics, according to which S may both be and not be P. This is described by a single word, 'avaktavya,' which means indescribable. This is precisely what we meant when we sought to shunt off the enquiry with the words 'it depends." The Jaina thinker does not seek to evade the difficulty by stratagem, subterfuge or even by diplomatic evasion. He is ready to give a direct answer to a direct question; but it is no concern of his, if the questioner happens to be good only at putting questions, and no further. "6 "It depends," and "it all depends," would be very good answers. to our direct question, if they did not leave the door open to further discussion. As it is, the questioner is not satisfied, and may insist on a direct answer to his direct question, as the cross-examining counsel does at times-' answer me with a simple yes or no !' To such a question, put with all the curt brevity of a metaphysical inquiry the Jaina Philosopher gives the one-word answer' indescrib-able.' This simply means that the human language knows of no word

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192 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES which may be expressive of both affirmance and negation at one and the same time. Of course we are free to coin any technical term that will express the same object: "It all depends," will do equally well if taken as a technical term, only it is not a single word and fails to express the true difficulty arising from the short-coming of human language, which the word " avaktavya" fully expresses. In other words, it fails to express the real conception at the back of consciousness, and tends to divert attention from the exact point by resort to the convenient phraseology of an easier matter-of-fact life. The difficulty with men is that they are ever prone to form an opinion hastily and without exhaustive research. To the bat's eye the glory of the day must undoubtedly be tantamount to total darkbut then the bat's eye must be confined to its own little sphere of activity and kept from intruding upon human thought, where only an eye that is accustomed to light and the glittering brilliancy of the day can be our model and guide and the ideal. ness, It is apparent now that the charge of indefiniteness brought against the doctrine of Syadvada has no foundation of fact anywhere As a matter of fact the system of Syadvada is more exact and determinate than all systems based on one-sided absolutisms. For the man who knows S to be P in certain cases, and not P in certain other cases, and as indescribable in one aspect of its nature, and so forth, is certainly possessed of more definite information concerning it than he who only knows it absolutely as P or as not P. The supposed contradiction, too, between S being P and not being P needs no explanation now. It is important to note that there can be no contradiction between statements made from different points of view, and that for a real discrepancy, the assertion and the denial of a fact must proceed from one and the same standpoint. Many instances can be given from non-Jaina works of such contradictory statements which can, in many instances, be easily reconciled to one another with the aid of the Syadvada; but not otherwise. Here is a striking instance in point from the Adhyatma Ramayana (Sacred Books of the Hindus Series, Chap. 3, Verse 23) : * "Though doing [ acting ] thou art no actor, though going thou art really not going. Though hearing thou art in reality not hearing, though seeing thou art not seeing."

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THE SYSTEM OF SYADVADA 193 Here it is quite obvious that the conflicting statements are made from different points of view and do not constitute real contradictions. We thus see that the doctrine of the Syadvada is really a harmonizer of conflicts and not the producer of them.

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THE RHYTHM OF JOY (Ananda) Divers results flow from the combination of Spirit and Matter. In the lowest grade of life consciousness is reduced to the barest susceptibility to the sensations of touch. The 'joys' pertaining to taste, smell, sight and hearing are not open to a living being endowed only with the sense of touch. On the next higher rung we have taste appearing along with touch; the soul can now appreciate such sensations also as sweet, sour, pungent, bitter and saline, but nothing more. The third sense appears in such insects as the ant, which have smell added on to the previous two. These are, however, still debarred from the pleasures that appertain to sight and sound (hearing). Amongst flies and the other four-sensed types of life we find sight manifested for the first time in the course of unfoldment. Higher up we have hearing appearing along with the other senses. All these grades of life, excepting certain members of the five-sensed community, such as horses and monkeys, are devoid of the intellect. Man, too, belongs to the five-sensed grade of life, and has the capacity to enjoy the pleasures appertaining to all the five senses and the illumination that the intellect is deemed to bring to its possessor. As for happiness, pain preponderates over pleasure in embodied life. The trees are rooted to the spot, and are perpetually exposed to all kinds of seasonal inclemencies and afflictions. The insects are crushed, in thousands, under the feet of their bigger fellow-beings, who do not even stop to look at their suffering. Birds and beasts of the higher types are killed and devoured by others of their class, and also by man who has reduced the cooking of limbs and flesh torn from living beings to a fine art! Man himself is subject to all kinds of physical suffering, and has also a constant dread of calamity and mishap. The fear of death is ever gnawing at the vitals of the thoughtful mind. Those who are deemed unlucky have nothing but pain and misery for their lot in life; their suffering fails even to rouse one's sympathy after a time. And when we think we have 194

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THE RHYTHM OF JOY 195 much that makes for happiness in life, we really leave oat of account the suffering undergone at the misery of those dear and near ones whose welfare causes us deep concern. Thus, pain is seen to abound all round in embodied life; it surrounds it on all sides ; none is free from it. It is real! But, senseproduced, that is worldly pleasure is not real! It is not sukha (happiness), but sukhabhasa (appearance only of happiness). To the man who has no desire to smoke the soothing quality of tobacco holds out no charm. The delicacies of the palate appeal only where a taste has been created for them. The same food has a different effect on different individuals. All this shows that unless a taste is acquired for a thing it is not appreciated and enjoyed. This is what is known as the cultivation of a taste in the refined phraseology of the fashionable world. Some even cultivate such refinements as are simply offensive to others, as the taste for high" meat. Sense-produced pleasure thus, in its real nature, resembles the iced drink which is cooling because of the high fever from which the patient is suffering. If there be no fever to give rise to the affliction of thirst there would surely be no quenching of it either! Sense-craving stands for an agitation of the individual will - the soul-which in the worst cases may be simply overpowering. In its milder form, as an ordinary instinct or desire, it is feeble and easily controllable. This agitation is known as manovritti in Sanskrit. There are many kinds of manovrittis ; they resemble the breakers that are seen in a tempestuous sea. If the element of desire be eliminated from the mind it will be like the placid surface of a lake, transparent and calm. All our appetites whether natural' (instinct of hunger and the like) or artificial, that is acquired, are only so many forms of internal agitation (manovrittis). Under their influence the sense of enjoyment that is experienced in connection with the objects of the senses is exactly like the iced drink which is so cooling in the case of high fever. As already stated, if there be no affliction of thirst there can surely be no quenching of it, and the cooling draft would then simply taste 'flat.' This is why sense-produced pleasure is described as sukhabhasa (mock happiness). It simply depends on the craving, longing or desire, and may even be transformed into disgust

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196 ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES and ennui on its subsiding. What is so changeable, surely, cannot be real in any sense of the term. The joy of Life really consists in the feeling of the emotion of freedom from the inner nature - from within. This has been explained already elsewhere.* The psychology of real joy may be expressed in scientific terminology : the soul is a substance, which is pure intelligence; it is by nature, blissful,* and is liable to be affected, or moved by its beliefs, which affecting or moving takes the form of the lowering or raising of its "pulsation," i.e., rhythm. The sense of freedom causes a raising, that is to say, an exaltation, of its "life-pulsation," and is joyous for that reason. This is why it is necessary for the experience of happiness which is enjoyed on the receipt of a message of success in an examination that the school-boy should believe it to be true. For if he does not believe it to be authentic, the proper feeling of delight will not be experienced, notwithstanding the highly agreeable nature of the news itself. It follows that only a being in whom the process of unfoldment has advanced in an adequate measure is capable of experiencing spiritual joy. Where this has not taken place, where the benumbing influence of matter has not been sufficiently dissipated, there is no room there for the experiencing of the sensation of freedom or for the formation of a belief in the actuality of the experience. . Belief, it will be noticed, is strengthened by confirmatory facts, and is scotched by doubt, and destroyed by adverse indications. He, therefore, who finds nothing in or about himself to contradict a wellformed belief must perpetually enjoy the benefits that appertain to an unchanging and ever-strengthening faith. Those, therefore, who are perfect in renunciation, who have nothing left to be worried over, who have eradicated the fever of desire from their spiritual nature, are alone eternally happy. The rhythm of life, that is to say the pulsation of the soul substance, in their case is of the most exalted kind, and They are really, even literally, overwhelmed with joy. Such are the Souls of Those who have attained to the purity of * See the treatment of the subject in an earlier address entitled "A Peep Behind the Veil of Karma."

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THE RHYTHM OF JOY Spiritual Nature, and have no foreign admixture left in the substance of their being. Such is the thrilling effect of belief in its own freedom on the Spirit substance. Even in the condition of impurity a temporary realisation of the feeling of freedom is able to annul the adverse effect of the association of matter in a highly remarkable degree, as in the case of success in an examination. There is, thus, nothing surprising in the statement one reads in the Jaina Scriptures that the Saints enjoy such happiness as is even beyond words. For the true saint has no parigraha (foreign or external possessions), not even the modest bit of a loinstrip, to interfere with his appreciation of the sense of freedom, or to stand in his way in other ways. It may be stated that worry does not depend on the size or dimensions or even on the cash value of things. A langoti (the loinstrip) may, indeed, become the cause of as much annoyance and worry and distraction to one man as the loss of the world-famous Koh-i Noor would be to another! It is said of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, that he found such trifles as the ring on his finger and the border of his robe interfering with his prayers (see Religious Attitude and Life in Islam by Donald Black Macdonald, p. 298). Abul-Kasim of Geelani is also said to have discarded clothes altogether, to be free to pursue his ideal (ibid., 206). This is the reason why the Jaina saints dispossess themselves altogether of parigraha (foreign burdens).* Those, therefore, who long to enjoy the Joy of Gods should cultivate the emotion of Freedom in every possible way, by renunciation and the withdrawing of attention from the trinkets and togs of every description whatsoever. 197 * Parigraha is of two kinds: external and internal. External parigraha means worldly possessions, gold, silver, furniture, clothes and the like, but the internal parigraha (foreign burdens) are all those passions and impulsions and appetites and cravings, such as anger, pride, deceit, greed and sex-passion, that are foreign to the real nature of the spirit or soul substance.

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