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NOTES AND NEWS.
MAN AND THE WAY. We do not agree with Mrs. Rhys Davids in her views about the ascetic's life expressed in her learned essay on "Man and the Way" published elsewhere. The householder may be a worthy man in his own sphere. But he cannot be worthier and more serviceable to humanity than the monk or the ascetic. Great services have been rendered to mankind only by ascetics. the homeless. All the great religions of the world owe their origin to houseless monks or ascetics like Mahavira, Buddha and Christ. In Jainism man is not taught to despise his body. He is only taught not to attach too much importance to it. It must be subordinated to the Will of the Soul. But it should be given at fixed intervals sufficient nourishment. We think it is a mistake to hold that the prize of the Way's-End was not for those who had run ahead of their spiritually weaker fellowmen. How many millions of spiritually weaker fellowmen there were during the times of the great teachers of mankind ? Can we say that those Great Ones have not got the prize of the Way's-End simply because their fellowmen would not follow them. What can a Tirthankara, a Buddha, a Christ or an Avatar do against the obstinate and the perversely inclined. They cannot put aside their mission and their activity till their spiritually weaker fellowmen get strength and rise to their level. They preach the Way, walk the Way before our eyes and ask us to follow them if we like to reach the same End. It is our work to go and join their ranks. We cannot call asceties malingerers and parasites, when we are quite unable to understand them. Great Teachers like Mahavira and Buddha renounced their kingdoms, princely comforts and other worldly pleasures not for the sake of feeding on the results of the work of the community. They do not want our help in any way and they do not ask for any lood or drink. It is we that give them these. We help them with these to get virtue. We need co-operation for advancement in social political and economic life. But in spiritual life every
17 Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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