Jainism Christianity and Science

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: The Indian Press Allahabad

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JAINISM, CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE
ideal into whose foot-steps we wished ourselves to walk. The Perfect Men have got rid of matter completely, so that bodies are not formed any longer by Them in Nirvana. They reside at the top of the universe, termed Siddha Sila. There They abide, free from hunger, thirst, bodily sensations, sweat, sleep, birth, old age, death and the like. They have no matter adhering to Them; Their being is constituted by the substance of the soul, which is a simple uncompounded thing. They are in the human fórm, and above calamity, misfortune and mishap. They are immortal, omniscient, eternally blissful, and reside above the region of turmoil and suffering where embodied souls pass their time in misery.
The Christian view on the subject is rather myse tically expressed, but it is easy to be unfathomed. The twenty-four Elders of the Apocalypse are really the twenty-four Trrthamkaras, the scenic surroundings leave ing no doubt on the subject, though the style is mystic. An initiation scene is laid in allegorical style. In the centre of'a huge 'hall’ is placed a throne on which is placed Life that is Divine: round about the Throne are four and twenty seats on which sit four and twenty Elders, robed in white and wearing crowns of gold. In this Assembly is introduced the Lamb (the symbol of the soul characterized with supreme humility) that is to be initiated. In front of the Throne are four remarkable beasts: one of them is like a lion, another resembles an eagle, the third has the appearance of a calf, and the fourth has the face of a man. These beasts have six wings each, and are full of eyes all over; and they rest not night and day, but keep on blessing the