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The Jaina Philosophy by the Christians, it is accepted by the majority of mankind at the present day. It has been held as true by the mightiest Eastern nations. The ancient civilization of Egypt was built upon this doctrine and it was handed over to Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid who scattered it through Greece and Italy. It is the keynote of Plato's philosophy when he says that all knowledge is reminiscence. It was wholly adopted by the Neo Platonists like Plotinus and Proclas. The hundreds of millions of Hindoos, Buddhists and Jainas have made that doctrine the foundation of their philosophy, religion, government and social institutions. It was a cardinal point in the religion of the Persian unagi. The doctrine of Metempsychosis was an essential principle of the Druid faith and was impressed upon your forefathers, the Celts, the Gauls and the Britons. Among the Arab philosophers it was a favourite idea. The rites and ceremonies of the Romans, Druids and Hebrews expressed this truth forcibly.
The Jainas adopted it after the Babylonian captivity. John the Baptist was to them a second Elijah. Jesus was thought to be a re-appearance of John the Baptist or one of the old prophets. The Roman Catholic purgatory seems to be a make shift, contrived to take its place. Philosophers like Kant, Schelling and Schopenhauer have upheld this doctrine. Theologians like Julius Muller, Dorner and Edward Beecher have maintained it. And today it reigns over the Burman, Siamese, Chinese, Japanese, Tartar, Tibetan East Indian and Ceylonese including at least 750 millions of mankind and nearly two thirds of the race.
Is it not wonderful then that this great and grand philosophical deduction which the Hindus, Buddhists and Jainas gave to the world centuries and centuries before the Christian era should or could be blotted out of existence from the Western and European world by the soul-blighting and absurd dogmas of the dark ages that supervened? By the persecution of wise men and destruction
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Jain Education International
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| SR No. | 006901 |
| Book Title | Jaina Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai |
| Publisher | World Jain Confederation |
| Publication Year | 2009 |
| Total Pages | 298 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 5 MB |