________________
62
ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES (3) Adam is the individual ego that has reached the stage of
i evolution known as “human birth." (4) Eve is the Intellect that is made from Adam's rib taken out
in sleep an apt simile since the intellect is only a form or function of the ego, with which one finds oneself
endowed on waking up from sleep. (5) Man alone is qualified for salvation and therefore entitled
to be taught dharma (religion). The animals are debarred from salvation because of their general deficiencies in respect of intellect and other bodily and mental functions. Even the residents of heavens and hells are not entitled to salvation because they are not fitted to perform tapas. Hence, man is the principal recipient of
dharmic injunctions. (6) The Tree of Life represents Life itself, and the Tree of
knowledge of Good and Evil, the determination of the
value of things. (7) The fruit (consequence) of knowledge of good and evil repre
sents what are termed riga (attachment) and dveşa (aversion), because we long to possess what we regard as good and to destroy what is bad. If you will now pause for a moment to ponder over the nature of good and evil you will find that they are not concrete things, nor even constants in nature, but mere terms of comparison. The birth of an heir is hailed with joy by a childless millionaire, but it is the actual source of despair and gloom to the extravagant expectant reversioner. The child is himself but an event; he is auspicious, lucky and therefore good to his parents ; but the source of life-long despair and misery to those whom his presence debars from stepping into the jewelled shoes of the millionaire. In the breast of the one it excites love and affection (attachment), in that of the other, hatred and anger (aversion). Thus, attachment and aversion are the
fruits of the 'tree of knowledge of good and evil.' (8) Attachment and aversion (râga and dveşa) are two general
forms of desire which is the cause of bondage, as
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
