________________
282
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. the solitude of night (when mind is not occupied with worldly things), on the banks of the placid Jamuna (mind-stuff, hence, mind), disregarding both her love for her husband (worldly attachments) and the fear of society. When she stands before her Lord, stripped of her clothes (i.e., worldly possessions), when she gives up even the last vestige of feminine modesty and standing upright joins her hands above her head, disregardful ofher nudity and the rules of worldly decorum, then is the notion of duality between the Lover and the Object of Love dispelled from the mind, and the fruit of Love enjoyed. The hopes and fears of the love-lorn gopis, their neglect of their household duties, their abandonment of their children and husbands, their passionate yearning to be enfolded in the arms of the Beloved-all these are pure allegories describing the degree of devotion or zeal necessary for the realization of the great Ideal of Perfection, personified as Christos, or Krishna, the Redeemer. The Song of Solomon, no less immoral from the worldly point of view, is a similar allegory of Love between the Ideal and the individual soul. Jesus, too, likened the soul to a maiden in the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. XXV. 1-13)
These circumstances of the identity of thought, doctrine and method lead us to think that Jesus must have received his early training from the Indians. Judaism, too, seems to have piayed no small part in moulding hischaracter, and the Egyptian culture must have also had a share in his training, if it be true that he had visited that land in his childhood. Egypt has always been famous for her mystic ritualism ; and, although her civil
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org