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JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
been suitable for all kinds of humanity; it will help every one! Jainism does not teach that you should mope and teep and put on sackcloth and ashes over your head; it does not even compel you to adopt any particular course of conduct at once or at any time. 'It simply asks you to study yourself, and if that study is properly made, it will stop there. It will only aid you in studying the subject and will not impose any further obligation on you. You yourself will in the fulness of time long for the salvation of your soul, when once you have understood the nature of things and the consequence of disregarding the teaching of Truth. If right belief and right knowledge are there, right conduct will arise itself sooner or later, according to the nature and degree of resistance it meets from the inimical forces of the flesh. Thus no one compels you to adopt any rules of conduct, in fact, no one even compels you to adopt any form of belief, for nobody can be forced into a particular belief, which will not remain there if it is merely forced on an unwilling mind. What Jainism does, therefore, is only this: it places before men its scientific teaching, invites them to study the subject, and leaves them there till such future time when they themselves seek further advice and assistance from it. It rests content in the assurance that life is eternal and that once an individual is rid of error and misapprehension, he will, in the fulness of time, surely tread the path that leads to light and the perfection and the joy of Gods. Even kings have renounced their thrones in the end to escape from perpetual torture in transmigration, by taking the shaping of their future destiny seriously in hand.
