________________
950
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE,
supposed inferiority and servitude are constantly dinned into its ears.* The place which does not lead to the elevation of the individual will, but falsely impresses on it the necessity of assuming an attitude of a captive and beggar, can, therefore, in no sense of the term, be described as the House of God.
* The recitation of holy mantras and texts at death-bed is also calculated to remind the soul of its true nature, so that it might be filled with thoughts of its own divinity, and thereby escape the torments of hell and the lower forms of life. For if the soul is filled with the ideas of goodness and power even at the last moment of its earthly career, it cannot then descend into the regions of pain and suffering or be reborn in unhappy circumstances any more. Accordingly, all religions enjoin the reading of holy texts, in some form or other, in the hearing of the departing soul. The recitation of scriptural text is at once calculated to divert the attention of the soul from bodily suffering and grief at the idea of being torn away from all it held dear and near in the physical world, in addition to imparting to it the consciousness of its own true and glorious Self, the one and the only Bestower of Moksha, so far as that particular soul is concerned. It must, however, be always kept in mind that merit is not in empty words, or in the recitation thereof, but solely and simply in their purport or import; and it must be evident now that weeping and crying in the presence of the departing soul can not only do no good to those whom it is leaving behind, in this Vale of Tears, but also actually go to deprive it of the last, and therefore, the most momentous and valuable, opportunity for Self-realization in the closing hours of its life on earth.
The recitation of the Sura Y, S. enjoined on the followers of the creed of the Crescent also seems to have been intended to assist the departing soul on the spiritual path. The very letters Y and S are suggestive of this purport; for the numerical value of 's is ten which, as, a perfect or whole number, is the symbol of Perfection, and we is an abridgment of esse or Life whose divinity is the oneand the only theme to be dwelt upon in the hearing of a departing soul,
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
