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JAINISM
of isolation (kaivalya); and conversely, those who are not readily drawn to it are comparatively low in the human scale. Any pronounced inability to conform to the most advanced ascetic standards simply proclaims how woefully far one stands from the summit of the cosmic social climb.
Pious acts, then, are not the causes, but the effects; they do not bring, but they foretell release. The perfect ascetic shows through the detached austerity of his conduct that he is the being nearest to the exit. He shows that he has all but completed the long course and is now absolutely unwavering in his exalted unconcern both for himself and for the world-indifferent alike to what the world thinks of him, to what he is, and to what he is about to be.
It is not difficult to imagine what a state of impotent selfannoyance this philosophy would cause in those human beings somewhat below the supreme condition, still ambitious for the world's supreme regard.
10.
Man against Nature
JAINISM agrees completely with Gosāla as to the masklike character of the personality. Whether in the shape of element, plant, animal, man, celestial bcing, or tormented inmate of hell, the visible form is but the temporary garb of an inhabiting life, which is working its way through the stages of existence toward a goal of release from the whole affair. Apparently this depiction of the transient forms of life as so many masks taken on
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