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TIIE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
ation of its own godly nature, and may do so by following the right path. This right path, however, is not the 'practical' path of kings and millionaires and other potentates of the world, but the path of Those who have fought and conquered Death and destroyed the demon of Darkness.
It should be pointed out here that Jainism recognizes two distinct classes of souls involved in the samsara, namely, ascetics and laymen. The former are those noble-minded, high-souled beings who are determined to reach the goal by the shortest route of tapas (asceticism), but the latter are the ordinary men of the world who, unable to keep pace with their more advanced bretliren, the sadhus or munis, aspire for the realization of the great Ideal of Perfection and Bliss along the less difficult, and consequently, the longer route of the house-holder's dharma (religion). The rules of conduct laid down for the former class of souls are all characterised by the utmost severity of disciplinary austerity, which no one desirous of the attainment of Godhood can ignore; but. those meant for the guidance of ordinary men and women in the world are tempered to the capacities of their less evolved souls. Hence, conduct becoming a sravaka is forbidden to the muni, though it is only compatible with the steady progress of the soul, through succeeding incarnations. Obviously, the rules of conduct, if they are to raise our status, must be consistent with the laws of progress, so as to bring out the best within us. This point is constantly kept in view in Jainism. Hence, the rigidity of moral discipline, in the case of less evolved souls, is made to yield only to the extent to which it is
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