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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
earth is surrounded by several magnetic “continents,” and the solar system is full of lively, ever changing phenomena, connecting the planets and especially their poles with the magnetism of the sun and with each other. But of the actual life of these spheres, comparable with the human organic magnetic and electric aura, science knows or even suspects nothing as yet.
We do not see a lotus island with a goddess on top of Mount Everest or Mont Blanc. The lotus in general is a symbol of purity, and elevation above the illusions of the physical as well as the astral worlds. Could the ancient teachers have meant that every continent has been provided with its own specific pure and spiritual character, which flows through rivers and rivulets of vitality to and from every individual being which is a part of it, whether sand grains or humans?
Mount Meru and Great Videha
Videha, the central continent of Jambūdvīpa, where we as inhabitants of Arya and Mleccha Khanda never travel, is described in detail in literature with its various mountains, lakes and rivers, its 32 provinces and as many capitals, each with its own king who, after a long existence in one or the four celestial realms of the celestial gods, have descended to earth to reign over their land as great leaders. The people of Videha can - unlike to us in the present dark age of ignorance, deception and misery - reach full liberation, and it is said that every day a number of them do so.
Mount Meru in the center of Videha consists of three cones on top of each other, and is in total about one million kilometers high. There are three large terraces or mountain plateaus related to the three cones, on which forests grow and divine beings live. On top is a peak of beryllium with a sanctuary. At the foot of the mountain stretch four regions with eight mountains on which the guardians of the four
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