Book Title: Epitome of Jainism
Author(s): 
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 583
________________ PAPA, VICE OR SIN. exerts a decisive influence on his whole moral nature. Of course there is no harm in admitting the fact that these observances are not a proof of religion unless genuine ; for they may be mere spurious imitations. But it must be also confessed on all hands that if a man abstains from all sorts of observances, it is a decisive proof that in his case his religious need is in a dormant state, if it exists at all. We do not of course subscribe to the view that all who take part in such observances, as handed down to them by tradition or scripture, are actuated by the same heart-felt needs ; for in this, as as in other cases, men's motives may differ very widely, but to estimate the value of a thing, it is injudicious to confine one's attention upon these only. To do this we must take into account the psychological origin of these. And we believe that in the case of Jainism, the root of these lies deep in the fact of yearning, after a state of liberation-a state of beatitude and bliss, -a state of omniscience of whose sublimity one's imagination has ormed a conception, and which he feels 523

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860