Jainism and World Problems

SR No.: 006708
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1934
Total Pages: 240
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 237

CORRESPONDENCE
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I am sure you will perceive the allegorical nature of the Biblical Christ clearly if you ponder over what he says about himself with reference to his predecessors : “ All who ever came before me were robbers and thieves !” Now, if this is read literally it can only be a piece of gross absurdity ; but read in its true sense, it only means that all other ideals whatsoever that were ever entertained by the soul before the Christ-Ideal was cherished, were, without exception, only the dissipators of Life, and robbed it of Immortality. They were, thus, truly robbers and thieves. The Christ-Ideal alone is the one that leads to infinite life and immortality :“I have come that ye might have life and life in abundance !” The two thieves also that were crucified, in the narrative, with Jesus are purely allegorical in themselves. They personify good and evil, the fruit of which is responsible for the introduction of death in the world, according to the book of Genesis. Immortality, naturally, results when they are destroyed, with the lower ego, that is Jesus. I have shown in the “Key of Knowledge" how Barabbas stands for the body. It will, indeed, be strange, in an allegorical assemblage, if a real historical being is suddenly introduced into its midst.
You have referred to the Western point of view, but will you make a distinction between the East and the West even in regard to true wisdom? Rudyard Kipling seemned also to emphasize this distinction when he said :
“East is East, and West is West,
And the twain shall never meet." Many people have since repeated this; but might not the stanza be completed in the following way :
“ East is East and West is West, The twain shall never meet ; For one is Wisdom, like the head, T'others's only legs and feet !"