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origin of the universe, what its idea is with regard to God, with regard to the soul and its destiny, and what it regards as the laws of the soul's life. The answers to all these questions would collectively give us a true idea of the religion or philosophy. In our country religion is not different from philosophy, and religion and philosophy do not differ from science. We do not say that there is scientific religion or religious science; we say that the two are identical. We do not use the English word religon because it implies a binding back, and conveys the idea of dependence, the dependence of a finite being upon in infinite, and in that dependence consists the happiness or bliss of the individual. With the Jains the idee is a little different. With them bliss consists not in dependence but in independence; the dependence is in the life of the world, and if that life of the world is a part of religion then we may express the idea by the English word, but the life which is the highest life is that in which we are personally independent so far as binding or disturbing influences are concerned. In the highest state the soul, which is the highest entity, is independent. This is the idea of our religion. The first important idea connected with it is the idea of the universe. Is it eternal or non-enternal? Is it permanent or transitory ? Of course there are so many different opinions on the subject, but with these opinions I am not concerned in this lecture; I am only going to give the
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