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JAIN JOURNAL
Therefore I am now inclined to believe and I shall try presently to prove it scientifically that Jainism is a very old religion, for a scholar can hardly suppose eternity of any religion, the roots of which reach back to very remote times of the pre-Aryan races in India, which took from the Aryan religion everything, that was the best or at least better than its own ideas, and which had developed itself parallelly alongside of the Brahmanic forms of the Aryan religion. This supposition does not alter anything in my conclusions, which will be the same whether we adhere to the second mentioned opinion or to this my own opinion about Jainism, which I mention only for the purpose of showing my personal point of view in this matter.
Jainism as a religion of the masses can be dealt with only in its final form, viz., after the reform of Mahavira, or better in the present form as it is taught by both the most important schools of Jainas, viz., the Svetambaras and the Digambaras. And only this form can be considered from the point of view of the comparative science of religions, as being the only sure and undisputed aspect of it.
In this form it represents the highest form of the Aryan religion, as the original non-Aryan element was reduced only to faint vestiges. The most important feature of Jainism, is, that it has overcome the Brahmanic scepticism, which was threatening the very roots of religion as well as the pure formalism to which the Brahmanical rites sank at the time just before the reform of Mahavira. And by means of Mahavira's reforms Jainism, although it did not spread as much as Buddhism, was of much greater importance for India than the latter, protecting the Aryan religions in India against the influences from the West, if not directly, yet at least indirectly, calling for a reaction in different sects.
But the real value of Jainism lies in its inner perfection which appears in the proportionate representation of the religious elements so that none overruns the other. This is the feature, in which all the Indian religions in general, but Jainism in particular, differ from the other religions, specially from the Semitic religions, and among them from the Christian religion in particular. To be better understood I feel obliged to explain it in plain words. Every religion consists mainly of three elements, viz., the sentimental element, the intellectual element, and the practical element. In most of the religions the practical element, which appears in the shape of rites and ceremonies, overgrows the whole religion in such a way, that the other elements become only subordinate
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