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tion of the “Uebermensch" of the great German philosopher Nietzsche 12 whom–I do not deny it-I consider in many respects as my spiritual leader. And this is the very point where I see the greatest sublimity of the Jaina religion, and am strongly. opposed to those, who may call Jainism an atheism and thereby deny its being a religion at all. My opinion is that the Jaina religion went only up to the highest aim, to do everything for the intellectual claims but to remain still a religion with its typical features, of which the idea of god is the indispensable one. Therefore the Jaina religion can be called with full authority the limit form not only of the Aryan religions but of all religions altogether.
And in this character of a limit religion lies the great importance of the Jaina religion for the comparative science of religions. For, it is the required upper limit, according to which we are able to judge of the other human phenomena, whether they are still religions or not. But this is not the only importance of Jainism for the study of comparative science of religions. Equally important for the scientific study of religions are the Jaina metaphysics as well as the Jaina ethics, not to speak about its logic.
I have no space to go in details on this subject, but I must mention only a few characteristic manifestations of this superiority of Jainism. I mention only the theory of the infinite numbers as it is dealt with in the Lokaprakāśa, and which corresponds with the most modern mathematical theories. And the theory of identity of time and space is one of the problems, which are now most discussed by the scientists owing to Einstein's theory, and which are already solved or prepared for solution in Jaina metaphysics.
12 Friedrich Nietzsche (b. 1844, died, 1900 in Weimar) was a great German philo
sopher of the XIXth century, whose significance is still not fully appreciated, due to many divergences in his ideas, which can be seen, e.g., in his conception of God. God is according to Neitzsche embodiment of longings and desires of the little men, symbol of the vanity of the present mankind; he must 'die', as Nietzsche says, in order that the 'Uebermensch' (i.e., the 'superbeing') may become his own god, i.e., his own aim. And what will happen, when the Uebermensch arrives ? Is then the development finished ? To this question Nietzsche replies, by the idea of the eternal circulation of things. The development happens in a circle ; everything which has been already here, will return again and again, and even the last man, with all his imperfectness will return; and therefore it is inevitable for man to live in such a way, that he may wish a repetition of his life ; this is possible in the right sense after the Uebermensch and realising the idea of the Uebermensch. Both the ideas in this conception are so divergent that it can be hardly accepted as the proper solution of the problem, if we do not suppose different points of view.
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