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ing soul! As Tirthamkaras They are the right men in the right places; for They are the true Teachers and initiation only signifies the imparting of instruction by a duly qualified guru (preceptor) to a novice. Certainly, there can be no teacher greater than the Tirthamkara, for He is God Himself, and we have it from the Qur'an, in a passage already cited elsewhere.
The Baptism of God! and who is better than God at baptis
ing?'' (Sara Baqr). Let me remind you, the scene is laid 'in spirit' (Apocalypse, iv. 2) in the Court of Life. An aspiring soul, possibly a future Tirthamkara, is to be initiated. The secret to be imparted is the mystery of the book written within and on the back side and sealed with seven seals, which plainly means the secret of embodied existence, the spinal column and the seven psychic chakras of yoga being the original of the mysterious book. The one on the throne is Life in the abstract, for it is not shown as wearing any kind of clothes and is not described any further in any manner with reference to any bodily peculiarities. In this Court, in these surroundings and under these circumstances you are to conceive 24 fortnights as occupying the four and twenty seats which are all that are provided for there ! * The real explanation has already been given. The one on the throne from which proceed thund. erings and lightnings and voices is Life, thunder, lightnings etc., being emblems of its explosiveness, The four and twenty Elders are the great Tirthamkaras
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