________________
1076
religion is like a chain no single link of which can be removed or displaced without destroying it as a whole This is exactly the case with Jainism whose doctrines are pre-supposed and implied in one another, so that it is impossible to treat them as isolated fragments or bits of knowledge. It follows from this that the knowledge of truth must have existed in a scientific way before the coming into vogue of the mystery-language of mythology. The field of enquiry is thus narrowed down to the question: where did this scientific knowledge exist-whether in Jainism or among the non-Jaina creeds? But the latter have nothing to show that might indicate that they were the discoverers of truth; on the contrary, we cannot imagine them to have thrown away the kernel and retained only some crushed and mutilated fragments of the outermost shell. It is clear, therefore, that they builded their pantheons on foundations not their own. Further, when we look out for a scientific source we do not find it anywhere else but in Jainism, which is the only scientific religion in the world. Jainism, it will be seen, fully meets the situation, furnishing a complete explanation not only of the Science of Salvation, as religion might be termed, but also of the doubts and difficulties of men which have arisen from a wholesale personification of the psychic and spiritual faculties of the soul. It follows from this that the frag mentary, incomplete and mystical doctrines of the nonJaina creeds belong to a later period in the history of religion when the evil tastes and passions of men had already created a belief in the wisdom of secret instruction, and that the plain statements of the Jaina Sid
Jain Education International
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org