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PREFACE
sense of the word. In the following pages he has merely put down the chain of reasoning which brought satisfaction and rest to his soul, in the hope that others also might be benefited thereby, if they have an earnest longing to understand themselves and the great mystery which surrounds existence. It is possible that in dealing with the vast range of subjects discussed in the book he may have unwittingly trodden upon the corns of some ; if so, his excuse is that the causing of pain is not intentional. In an earnest search for Truth, there is no room for an apology.
The best method of studying the “ Key of Knowledge "indeed, of every other work on enducation and religion-is to meditate on its passages, not to skip over them erratically. It would be much better not to read the book at all than to read it in a hurry. It is well to bear in mind that knowledge is like food, and becomes ours only when it is absorbed, assimilated and digested by the intellect.
Serious confusion is apt to arise unless the standpoints of Idealism and Realism are constantly kept in mind. The change from the one to the other is sometimes so abrupt and without warning, that nothing but the reader's natural intelligence can come to his rescue. An endeavour has been made to point out all such changes, but the injunction is thought necessary to put the reader on his guard. A full grasp of the Jaina doctrine of Nayavada (the philosophy of stand-points) which finds its culmination in the Saptabhangi (that is, the sevenfold) system of predication is necessary to avoid all such pitfalls. Ordinarily, language fails to deal at one and the same time with any given situation in all its aspects, and is apt to mislead the unwary. For instance, the word "unknowable' is a contradiction of its own sense. Herbert Spencer could not well have meant what
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