________________
192
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
age, and entangles one in the cycle of births and deaths. It, therefore, fears to be despised. Hence, Cain is made to say :" And it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” But, inasmuch as, after the Fall and the consequent destruction of blind Faith, Reason, if rightly employed, is alone capable of re-establishing the state of at-one-ment between man and God, by establishing the divinity of the soul, he wbo refuses to be guided by Reason, in the condition of Fall, must remain ignorant of his true nature and entangled in tbe cycle of births and deaths. Hence, the Lord is made to say : “ Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold” Lastly, the statement-"From thy face shall I be hid."-- is also fully appropriate to Cain as representing Reason. Taken in a literal sense, it is simply absurd to say that anything can be hid from the face of God from whom nothing can be concealed; but, philosophically, omniscience and reason are two opposite aspects of the one and the same thing, namely, the soul, the former being the function of pure spirit, and the latter an attribute of the ego involved in impurity. For this reason, so long as the soul remains in a condition of impurity it cannot exercise its natural function of omniscience; but when the impurities are removed, reason is replaced with all-embracing knowledge and godhood attained. Hence, divinity, and reason cannot exist together, which explains the speech of Cain.
The third son of Adam is Seth, which means appointed, that is, he who was appointed to take the place of the murdered Abel (i.e., blind faith), hence, wisdom.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org