Book Title: Jain Philosophy
Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Agamoday Samiti

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Page 257
________________ 228 JAINISM. bothingnan no beos Thal. The two Jainism teaches that matter and spirit are two separate entities; they are both eternal. The uniyerse taken as a totality had no beginning nor will it ever pass into nothingness. So far as different modifications are concerned, there is creation and destruction every moment. With regard to social rules Jainism gives no support to the institution of caste. Several centuries ago a high priest of the Jain community named Ratna-Prabha Suri happened to travel in Raputana in India and while sojourning in a town converted a number of people from among the Hindus belonging to different castes. All of them were brought by him under one name—the Jains. And even long before him, 700 years before Christ, Mahavira the Jain gymnosophist preached to the people at large that man is the noblest creature in the universe, higher than angles and gods and therefore he who looks down upon his brother-man Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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