Samayasara

SR No.: 001607
Original Sutra Author: Kundkundacharya
Author: Hiralal Jain, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1944
Total Pages: 370
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Philosophy
File Size: 8 MB

Page 144

CHAPTER I
15 Knower, the Self. But from the real point of view there is no (differentiation of) knowledge, conduct and belief, in Pure Self.
COMMENTARY Jaina metaphysics always emphasises the nature of reality to be identity-in-difference and unity in the midst of multiplicity. This characteristic which is assumed to be present in reality in general is associated in a marked degree with the Self. The Self in association with material upādhic conditions is said to be born in the world of samsāra with various organic bodies in various places and various times. The various births associated with a particular Self will be practically infinite in number when the beginningless sainsēric career is taken into consideration. All these various forms are considered to be paryāya s or modifications of the self-same unitary ego. The Self is one and its modifications determined by upadhic conditions are infinite in number. It is in this sense that the saving that the ātmā is one and the rsis call it many is interpreted by the Jaina metaphysician. Another point which is generally noticed by Jaina metaphysics is the relation between the substance and its qualities. The complex nature of the substance with its qualities also interpreted to be identity-in-difference. The qualities cannot be considered as entirely distinct from the substance. It is the same identical substance that expresses its nature through qualities. No doubt the qualities may be spoken of as different from one another and all from the underlying substance. Such consideration of the quality in abstract is only verbal differentiation. But really the qualities cannot exist independent of the substance nor the substance independent of its qualities as is maintained by the Vaiseșika school of thought. It is this latter point that is emphasised in this gāthä. The self in its pure nature, which is entirely free from upādhic conditions, must be considered as an indivisible unity in spite of the different attributes associated with it ordinarily. The characteristics, Darsana, Jūāna, and Cāritra are only verbal differentiations employed to explain the complex nature of the unitary self. This point that the qualities can only be differentiated