Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 974

RECONCILIATION.
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different chapters of this book, from different points of view; and the subject of devotion has also been dealt with in this chapter.
The facts established and the inferences drawn only point to one conclusion, namely, that there are no great differences in respect of the means prescribed by the different teachers of humanity from time to time, though, owing to misunderstanding and ignorance of the real truth, and not a little to our personal and racial prejudices also, the gulf has always been widening between the followers of the numerous faiths prevailing in the world.
As regards the first point, namely, the ideal of happiness to be attained, it will be seen that most of the religions of the world fall under one or the other of the two classes, the philosophical and the devotional; and the difference between them lies in the fact that while the former insist on the true understanding of the nature of things, in the first instance, tlie latter lay all the stress they can on the element of devotion, leaving knowledge to arise from the depth, of the soul in the course of concentration. The disadvantage of this latter course is, however, too great to be minimised, since, devotion being a kind of emotion, no genuine feeling of devotion can arise in the soul so long as it is not clearly convinced of its special relationship as a devotee with the prescribed object of adoration and worship. Besides, the ultimate object of devotion being one's own Self, its being directed towards another, especially towards a mythological deity, in the first instance, is only waste of time. Our analysis of the nature of devotion and of how it leads to the acquisition of knowledge has
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