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account of which a being is happy. The fourth principle is demerit : that on account of which a being suffers from misery.....'
....Six kinds of living beings are divided into six classes, Earth-body beings(Pruthvikaay), Water-body beings(Apkaay), Fire-body beings(Teukaay), Wind-body beings(Vaaukaay), Vegetables(Vanaspatikaay) and all of them having one organ of sense, that of touch.....'
....... The Jaina canonical book treats very elaborately of the minute divisions of the living beings and their prophets have long before the discovery of microscope, been able to tell how many organs of sense the minutest animalcule has. | would refer those, who are desirous of studying Jaina biology, zoology, botany, anatomy and philosophy to the many books published by our society....'
'What is the origin of the universe?'
'This involves the question of God Gautama, The Buddha, forbids inquiry into the beginning of things. In the Brahmanical literature bearing on the constitution of cosmos frequent reference is made to the days and nights of Brahma, the periods of Manvantara and the periods of Pralaya. But the Jainas, leaving all symbolic expressions aside, distinctly reaffirm the view previously promulgated by the previous heirophants, that matter and soul are eternal and cannot be created. You can affirm existence of a thing from one point of view, deny it from another and affirm both existence and non-existence with reference to it at different times...'
I have given this passage in detail to show how difficult it is to translate the Jain religious terminology into English. Through this lecture Virchandbhai laid the foundation of the English rendering of Jainism by putting his learning and
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