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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
substance, which means that it feels its own states. Even when it knows any other objects, it knows them only because of the modification of its own states produced by them, which it feels. Now, a substance that can feel its own states and the modifications of such states must naturally have an original or natural state of feeling of its own, independently of external influences. Jainism points out that this natural feeling of the soul-substance is purely joyous, so that if the soul was rid of all external influences it would feel nothing but the purest and the most exalted form of happiness. Again because this pure form of the feeling of happiness will be the natural state of the soul-substance, and quite independent of all foreign admixture or influence, it will be uninterrupted and unfading once it is secured from outside aggression and interference. There are other reasons to show that the natural feeling of the soul is one of happiness, but for want of time I cannot afford to go into them now.
The result of our study of the nature of the soul, then, is that it is proved to be immortal, all-knowing and blissful, in its own right. But omniscience, immortality and bliss are but three of the most worshipful qualities in the highest conception of Divinity. Every soul, then, is a God in potency, and may become one in actual manifestation, by ridding himself of the cause that operates to deprive him of his natural birth-right, so to speak.
The main question, then, is what is the cause that stands in the way of the soul and keeps it out of its Godhood? Jainism deals with this question also in the true spirit of scientific enquiry, and explains that the union of substances tends to limit their natural functions in different ways, according to the nature and extent of their fusion. For instance, when oxygen and hydrogen coalesce to form a drop of water, their gaseous nature is curtailed, and reduced to the state of bare fluidity. Similarly, the functions of the soul-substance are curtailed and suspended by the companionship of matter in which it is embodied. The body is, then, a hindrance in its path, and prevents it from becoming a God in actuality.
Further investigation shows that the body is not fixed to the soul by means of screws and levers, or bars and locks of iron or of some other metal. It is held simply by the subtle magnetism of the soul's
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