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PONO
SSO
BRANNMANN SEGIR
The Occult Law of Sacrifice Man would, therefore, be very little different from the animal except in the supposed fact that in the human being an additional series of kaleidoscopic changes in the arrangement of the particles of the body is presented which is called self-consciousness.
This is a very small credit given to the human stage of individual development. In that philosophy there can be no place for individual memory, as the incoming particles in the body can never come to know that, what was done ten years ago by a certain multitude of particles, was actually done by them, if they were not there then. It does not answer in a satisfactory way the question – what is it that preserves unity amid the continuous changes that are going on all the time in the body? This unifying entity that is in every living thing is what the Aryans call the Atman, the soul. All living beings, therefore, are Atman - material body not mixed up in a mechanical way as water and sugar are in syrup, but both of them phenomenally acting upon each other and creating important changes in each other.
The similarity then between an animal and a human being lies in the fact that both are susceptible to hunger, sleep, fear and animal passions, but that which constitutes the special characteristic of the human being is that he can practice “Dharma," i. e., understand, realize and bring into operation the spiritual law of the universe which teaches him how to control his lower nature and bring into prominence the higher one. The human being is a Dharmic (and in that sense, religious) being.
How has he reached this stage? In one word, through the Law of Sacrifice. The first beginning of consciousness is made through the body and while in the lowest life there is only the body without organs of sense, even then, the finer the body is, the greater is the sensitiveness. The increase in consciousness and elevation in type take place by reason of the grosser being sacrificed and the subtler coming into prominence. This does not
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| SR No. | 006901 |
| Book Title | Jaina Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai |
| Publisher | World Jain Confederation |
| Publication Year | 2009 |
| Total Pages | 298 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 5 MB |