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The Heritage of the Last Arhat
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wanderers as it were on the heights of humanity. Since the institution of monkhood, and all the other institutions of Jainism, presuppose the world as it really is, and humanity as it really is, the scriptures do not account for the question as to what would become of the universe, if all people would turn monks. Therefore, it will always remain undecided whether that venerable Muni was right, who replied to the idle questioner that in such a case the good Karmas of mankind would cause wish-trees to grow, and streams of Amộta to flow, and gods to descend from their celestical abodes to serve their feet.
But even if it is not possible for everybody perfectly to come up to that ideal, still, merely acknowledging it to be an ideal, and trying to cultivate as many of its virtues as one's constitution allows, even thus much is considered to be a step towards advancement. Necessity of applying Jaina Principles to Modern Social Problems
This is, expressed just in a few words, what I think to be the innermost secret of Jainism, and what is, at the same time, a mental attitude without which a real advancement of human culture is not possible. We are living in a generation which, by all means imaginable, encourages a boundless egotism on one side, and on the other, an unrestrained violence offered to living creatures, in the shape of slaughter and war and misery: and then we think that our egotism can be satiated by regardlessness towards others, and that the violence we suffer can be abolished by our doing violence to others. Has there ever been a greater and more fearful mistake ? Why not acknowledge now that we have been wrong, and that the way we have taken to, must lead to a hopeless degeneration ? Why not comprehend at last that egotism cannot succeed, unless it dissolves in altruism, and that a reasonable altruism must needs lead to perfect individual bliss ? This clear and simple axiom is the basis of that time-honoured doctrine which forms the legacy of the last Arhat, and which, even if taken as a symbol, still represents such a
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