Harmless Soul

SR No.: 001196
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 372
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Principle
File Size: 20 MB

Page 135

Kundakunda: The Pravacanasāra 121
If the ātman itself is not transformed exclusively by its own nature, consisting of auspicious and inauspicious states, then it remains with its own pure state, without division, in every way and forever. 82
This is strikingly at odds with the standard Jaina doctrine, summarised by P.S. Jaini as follows: the soul's 'involvement with the material universe ... has had no beginning, and it is likely to continue almost indefinitely'; furthermore, the Jaina 'believes it is incorrect to imagine that the soul was once pure but later became defiled. It has always been impure, just as a seam of gold has "always" been imbedded in the rock where it is found'.83 Gāthā 1.46 implies a different view - that the natural or 'original' condition of the soul is unbound. In other words, Kundakunda denies that it is an ontological given that the soul is entrapped in matter from beginningless time, without initial cause; instead, he states that the cause of bondage (being in the state of samsāra) is the soul's developing by itself into śubha and aśubha states. And once an original cause for bondage is posited, it is possible to go beyond that and describe the state before bondage, and this becomes the original or natural condition of the soul, i.e. the state from which each individual jīva has started and to which it aspires to 'return' - in this case śuddhopayoga. Furthermore, if from the individual's point
82 yadi khalv ekāntena śubhāśubhabhāvasvabhävena svayam ātmā na parinamate tada sarvadaiva sarvathā nirvighătena śuddhasvabhāvenaivāvatişthate - TD. on Pravac. 1.46.
As we shall see, in the Samayasāra Kundakunda actually affirms this view: from the niścaya standpoint, the soul is, in every way and forever, in its own pure state. That naya is clearly not the one taken here - i.e. the soul does in some real sense transform itself - however, some important doctrinal modifications (noted below), make this gāthā one signpost on the road to such a position.
83 JPP p. 107.