________________
349
costs can get to it. If you love your little personality, you will never reach it, for its path is obstructed by the love of 'Non-Truth.' Be ready to crucify the little carnal self for the sake of the real Self, and your emancipation will come at once; for the law is that whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose it shall find it. There is no need for propitiating any cosmic or extra-cosmic deity; the whole thing is a question of laws, of which not a tittle shall be broken. It does seem at times that villainy and deceit score a victory against virtue and honesty, but in reality this is not so. The apparent villain might have done one good act, and the virtuous and honest man one that is bad. Shall the laws of Nature cease to operate for good in favour of the former, and for harm against the latter because of their general reputation or habit to the contrary? The laws do not recognize any such thing as a generally good man or a habitually bad one; they are simply concerned with each individual thought or act by itself. Every thought, whether good or bad, sets certain forces in motion which must have their due effect. In the morality of laws good and bad do not exist. The same nature which has pointed out that the proper food for man is a fruit and nut diet has pointed out living flesh to be the only diet of tigers, wolves and other beasts of prey. Where is the principle of mercy, then, in nature? This, however, is not meant to furnish a plea for the slaughter of poor dumb animals to tickle the palate of the epicure. No wise man who has understood the laws of nature will ever think of eating meat.'
* See 'The Jain Philosophy,' pp. 143-153.
Jain Education International
THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org