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HOW MAY MAN MASTER FEAR
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tendency which lays a premium on the power of expression, and does not insist on the need for precision, in other words, which encourages expression at the cost of deliberation. I do not want that superstition should be encouraged or that men should be forced to accept what is unacceptable to reason itself, but I do say that the hasty rejection of a doctrine by a mind that is not really in a position to have an opinion of its own is to be condemned. It is true that religion has been generally misunderstood in inost instances by man ; but it is at the same time true that religion itself can be expressed, and in Jainism is found to be expressed, with mathematical precision, and in a manner which is completely acceptable to the intellect. If your own religion has not thus far been expressed and explained that way, you should try to study it on scientific lines, and as I have shown in my books you will be surprised to find that, when properly understood, your own religion in most cases will be found to tally, word for word, with the scientifically explained Jainism.
It is necessary that scientific thought be brought to bear on the study of religion to-day; for it is impossible to expect that superstition can in this age of enlightenment and rationalism be expected to hold the thoughts of men or to mould their character. Let me say that unless the right kind of einotions are evolved out or developed by the individual he will be always a danger to himself and his community and the world at large. He is sure to injure his own soul ; and what harm may not be expected from a person who is incapable of protecting even the interests of his own soul ?
The very first thing you have to do is to change the atmosphere and the method of education of the universities and educational institutions. The boys and girls that emerge from our universities may be very clever so far as mere facts and figures go; but they have no higher character
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