What is Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
(13) The punishments of the transgressors are all descriptive
of the nature, and functions and attributes of the will,
the intellect and manas (desires collectively). (a) The serpent is cursed above all cattle, and above every
beast of the field. It is to go upon its belly and to eat dust all the days of its life. The element of sensuality (the serpent) may degrade one even below the level of the lowest beasts and brutes ; hence is sensuality rated below the lowest grades of " cattledom" It is constantly engaged in trafficking with matter (that is in extracting and imbibing the raw material of sensations from the objects outside). This raw-material of sensations, constantly pouring in through the doorways of the senses, is the “dust " which the serpent is to eat all the days of its life. Enmity is also put between the serpent and Eve. “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis jii. 15). This refers to the natural conflict between the intellectual and the sensual aspects of the ego. Desires are finally subdued by asceticism as the result of true Wisdom (the 'seed' of the Intellect). The serpent is also doomed to go on its belly. This is because sensuality can never aspire to soar to spiritual heights, never having a moment's respite from the enjoyment of the objects of sensual
pleasure to pause for self-contemplation. (b) The curse on Eve is also fully descriptive of the nature of
the Intellect. Her sorrow and conception are greatly multiplied. The animal has no regrets nor misapprehensions, but the man endowed with the Intellect has both. The conceptions of the Intellect greatly multiplied are indicative of the prolific notions men entertain about the world-process and things in general. “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis iii. 16). The Intellect is governed by the Will, her husband in allegorical speech ; her children are the diverse