________________
RESURREOTION.
495
put a stop to the unnecessary and barmful butchery which takes place in the name of the merciful God, on the occasions of religious festivals. To the Jews and Mahomedans we would recommend a serious consideration of the declarations of their God contained in the Old Testament and the Qur'an. To those of the Hindus who indulge in this inhuman ceremonial, we suggest a perusal of their own Scriptures, which, in their esoteric, or true sense, do not enjoin the sacrifice of life on any account. How could the ancient Rishis whose precision of thought makes them ask at the very commencement: 'who is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice ?,' and finds him to be the dweller in the hearts of all beings,-how could such Rishis, we ask, enjoin any animal sacrifice to such a God? Again, how could they prescribe renunciation, so complete and full as to destroy one's ahunkara, and yet insist on the performance of bloody sacrifices for the well-being of that very ahankara ?
* It is obvious to any one who has studied the Vedas that the words employed in the text in connection with animal sacrifices are capable of an exoteric as well as an esoteric interpretation. For instance, the word ashvu signifies not only a horse, but also the mind. The manas drags the body just as the horse moves a car. 'Now, because the body is symbolically represented by a chariot, that which drags it about may well be called an ashva (horse). Hence, the horse is the symbol of the desiring manas. In like manner, the word "aja" means & ram, or he-goat, exoterically, but esoterically it means carnal nature. Hence, the injunction to sacrifice the horse and the he-goat esoterically meant only the sacrificing of the desiring manas and carnality without which moksha could not be attained. The gomedha of the Hindu Scriptures, similarly, means self-denial, go icow) being a symbol for prâna, or lifo, in the sense of cuis (animalism).
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org