________________
776
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
To sum up, the elucidation of the mystery of Existence has led us into the profoundest secrets of Metaphysics and Religion. Looking into the nature of the world-process, we have seen how each theory set up by the leading Schools of Thought is but a partial view of the whole subject, which is dealt with in its entirety in Jainism alone. Thus, Vedanta, while endeavouring to furnish the raison d'être of the process, fails to describe the mechanism of Maya and the nature of the material necessary for the manufacturing of the visible universe. Its definition of Reality is also somewhat involved, and not definite enough to enable one to escape from the intellectual pitfalls which abound in the region of Metaphysics. Buddhism, too, commits the same blunder. Its grasp of the principle of becoming is truly superb, but there ends all its philosophy. The theory of Ideas, likewise, meets with no better success, and by itself is quite inadequate to explain the world-process. When we turn to the Bible and the Holy Qur'an we encounter the same difficulty; these sacred books have nothing more to offer than mysticism and dogma which reason is heartily sick of by this time. As regards the speculations of European philosophers, they avowedly do not go to the root of the matter, and wherever they pretend to do so, they are easily seen to be incomplete and one-sided. Materialism, on its very face, has hardly a leg to stand upon at the bar of philosophy, and we pass it by accordingly.
We thus turn away from every door, with disappointment, and enquire of Jainism whether it has any satisfactory solution to offer of the riddle which has baffled every
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org