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our physical wants and cravings without any idea of the ends of human existence.
What is matter? To answer in the epigrammatic form of Bertrand Russel: matter is a convenient formula for describing what happens where it is not. This is Nastik-vada pure and simple. On such a philosophy there would be no room for the problems of the meaning and , value of life, apart from the immediate purpose of gratifying the bodily appetites, accumulation of wealth and conquest of power. To speak in terms of Chaturvidha Purusharth as conceived by our ancient seers, Artha and Kama are now our masters. Dharma, with its link with the unseen broken, stands identified with the positive law; and Moksha is cast to the winds.
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In such a state of human consciousness, has this book any contribution to make towards the moulding of thought to-day? The answer would be-Yes, if Philosophy means, as it did in ancient times, a Way of Life. That is as true of the Jain as of the Vedantic or Buddhistic philosophies. Their fundamental concepts were these-Man is mind, the real nature of mind is rational, reason is essentially ethical.
