________________
CHAPTER 16
THE ATTRIBUTES OF DIVINITY
The Jaina idea is that the form of God is only that of man. The soul of the Perfect Man retains permanently the stamp of His form, and that is the Divine Form; but Gods have no sex. Sex pertains to the body; when the bodies are rid of completely, then sex also disappears. Jainism does not endorse the view that a God can be a shapeless mass, or a flame-like thing. It also refuses to accord its assent to the supposition that the entirety of the universe can be taken as one organic whole to be termed god. Gods are not all-pervading; their size is about that of the physical body, from which Godhood was attained. When soul's agitations cease, then its form becomes fixed permanently. Divinity enjoys unbroken bliss eternally. The Christian views on the subject are as follows :
1. (Divinity not all-pervading) :" They were misled by what 18 said in the Book of Wisdom : He pervades and passes to all by reason of his purity '; since they did not understand that this was said of Wisdom, which was the first of the creations of God."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 274.
"These philosophers (Strato, Ænesidemus, and Heraclitus) maintain the unity of the soul, as diffused over the entire body, and yet in every part the same."-A.N.C.L. vol. xv. p. 439.
"But it is not as a portion of God that the spirit is in each of de ..."-(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. xii. p. 278.
" This is the mystery of the hebdomad. For He Himself is the rest of the whole who grants Himself. as a rest to those who imitate His greatness within their little measure. For He is alone, some-,
99