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RECONCILIATION.
1063
This will become clear if we bear in mind the nature of Sruti (revelation) which means that which is originally heard from an omniscient Teacher.
Now, since all that is heard is sound in some form or other, and since sound consists only in a certain kind of movement the vibratory motion of material bodies--it follows that there can be no revelation where the circumstances are not favourable for the propagation of sound waves. Hence, the Siddhatmans in nirvana, whose being consists of pure effulgence of Spirit, and who have neither a material body nor any other kind of connection with matter, cannot communicate with men. Neither do the Holy Ones entertain a desire for such communication ; for the attainment of nirvana, the ideal of Perfection and Bliss, is possible only on the destruction of all kinds of desire, and is, consequently, indicative of the state of absolute desirelessness on Their part. It is thus clear that revelation can take place only prior to the nirvana of a Tirthamkara, that is to say during the period marked at one end by the acquisition of omniscience and at the other by the entry in nirvana.
Applying these observations to the different scriptures now extant in the world, it can be seen at a glance that none of the non-Jaina books can lay any claim to being the Word of God. They do not proceed from an omniscient Tirthamkara ; and none of them is free from mythology, the source of misunderstanding and strife.
They are also not helpful to all souls alike, most of them being even directly and openly the cause of the slaughter of innocent animals in the name of religion itself.
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