________________
The Gospels, in reality, only aim at uncovering the secret in a guarded way. The apostle's hesitation is evident from bis language (Ephesians, vi, 19-22) :
"And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I niay opet!
my mouth boldly, to make knowu the mystery of the gospels, "For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may
Spieak boldly as I ought to speak. "But that ye algo may kuow my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a
beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall makc know!!
to you all things : * Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ge mighi
know our affairs, and that he night comfort your hearts." I shall not dwell on the mystery of the Bible or of the Biblical teaching any longer here, as I have explained it fully in my earlier works, 1.9, the Key oi Knowledge.' It will be sufficient to point out here that this great mystery is centred in the life of the Soul which is its own God, but which is deprived of its natural status and glory on account of the bondage of sin (=wrong-doing, i.e., karmas). How may the release of this divinity be accomplished is the one theme of Religion. This great truth about the divinity of the soul was as much an astounding revelation to the unlettered and uninitiated in the past as it is to men and women of to-day, and they resented it as bitterly and as vehemently as the fanatics of our own times do, because it clashes with their vulgar conception of God, Nature and Soul, derived fron a inisinterpretation of the letter of the Law. And so great was the frenzy of the fanatical mobs that they would proceed to stone any one who differed from their own reading of the scriptural text. The guardians of Wisdom
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org