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CHAPTER XV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.
“Religion is the vital principle of the world, since it is the first cause of all felicity. It proceeds from man, and it is by it also that man attains the chief good. From religion, birth in a good family is obtained, bodily health, good fortune, long life, and prowess. From religion also spring pure renown, a thirst for knowledge, and increase of wealth. From the darkest gloom, and every dreaded ill, religion will ever prove a saviour. Religion when duly practised bestows heaven, and final emancipation."--The Kalpa Sutra.
The motor spring of all volitional activity, the secret of all kinds of passions and emotions, the cause of all thinking and acting is soley and simply happiness. There is no being, human, angelic or animal, to say nothing of other forms of life, who does not strive to obtain as much joy as he can extract from his surroundings. There is equally truly no man, deva, demon, or animal, who does not fear death. “That all men fear to die,” said J. J. Rousseau, * "is the great law dominating the thinking world, and without which all living things would soon cease to exist. This fear is the natural impulse, and is not merely an accident, but an important factor in the whole order of things. He who pretends to face death without fear is a liar.” Death is terrible ; it terrifies all, and few, indeed, are the souls who have courage enough left even to think on the point. A
* Quoted from The Nature of Man.'
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