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true shastra (Scripture); for these are the only sources of right knowledge from without, and it requires no great familiarity with logic to predict that he who ridicules any or all of them necessarily denies the truth of their Word, and is thereby debarred from the acquisition of truth. It is also worth while to understand the true functions of these three objects of worship. God is worshipped because He has realised the Ideal of the soul, because He is a living example for every aspiring jvia, and because He is the true source of religion; the guru is revered because he imparts true instruction and because without his practical help it would be exceedingly difficult, though not impossible, to tread the thorny path of Self-realisation; and the claim of the śâstra to worship rests on the ground that it is the last resort in case of doubt, and the only authority on matters which fall outside the domain of intellect, such as the description of heavens and hells and the like. The Scripture might, no doubt, appear at times to be in conflict with the conclusions arrived at by modern science, but it is necessary to bear in mind the important fact that the dictum of science on those points on which it conflicts with the Scriptural text is not based on anything approaching the omniscience of the arhanta, and is admittedly grounded on nothing more certain than the weight of probability. Above all, the opinion of ill-trained men, and even of scientists formed as the result of the demolition of mysticism and misunderstood theology, is to be accepted with the greatest caution. These gentlemen, finding the dogmatic preaching of certain obscure and incomplete systems of
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