________________
974
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
tions brought about, these scientific giants pushed on with their enquiries and discovered newer and newer secrets of nature, till emboldened by their successes they invaded the domain of Religion, forgetting that in that territory all those whose equipment for study consisted solely of the spectrum, the microscope, the knife and weights and measures were not, by any means, welcomed as guests by mother Nature, and that the only persons who could successfully hope to explore that region were those who had been initiated into the mysteries of the higher or spiritual science. Enormous is the debt of gratitude the world, and particularly the so-called civilized world, owes these indefatigable workers for their discoveries of electricity and the like, but equally great is the mischief which their opinions on the subjects connected with religion have done. But thanks to the growth of the science of Ner-Psychology, already a great deal of the lost ground has been wrenched back for Religion from the clutches of pyrrhonism ; and men who had come to look upon life as the result of a mere juxtaposition of atoms of dead matter have begun once more to look upon it as a thing which continues to exist after the dissolution of the body in death.
In dealing with such subjects as soul, spirit and Time, it is not to be expected that the conclusions of religious philosophy would find any material corroboration from the researches of the modern scientific world. As a matter of fact, science is yet in its infancy, and still thinking of manufacturing life and consciousness from its lifeless matter and unconscious force.
Science would take a living animal and say that its
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org