Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism

SR No.: 001617
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S C Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1978
Total Pages: 272
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Epistemology, Nyay, & Spiritual
File Size: 16 MB

Page 155

Structure of the Soul and Extension :: 151
modification and is non-eternal, which will strike at the very root of the Law of karma, so that merit will go unrewarded and demerit unpunished." Mainly the criticism is against the soul's capacity for cortradiction and expansion. We should remember that for contraction and expansion subtraction and addition of particles is not the only way, they can take place by a process of interpenetration and mutual extirpation of parts—a theory which the Jaina propounds. The number of pradeśas or the supposed units, in the constitution of a soul, is constant, and the magnitude of the soul varies not by diminution or addition of the pradeśas but by their interpenetration and mutual extirpation. Such a criticism can be justly levelled against the complextheory of the self, because the mental structure endures by an addition or a subtraction of the complexes. This charge against the Jaina theory is not a novel one. Akalarika observes: “If the soul possesses a capacity for contraction and expansion, it becomes impermanent. It is not so, because from the view-point of expansion and contraction as modes generated by the karma-śarīri the soul may be held to be impermanent."3 Again he writes “If on account of parts the soul is held to be mortal, it is not so because the soul does not leave its immaterial nature."* In the process of contraction the pradeśas or the parts of the soul penetrate each other and in expansion the process is reversed. Thus there is no addition to or subtraction from the structure of the soul, and the substance of the soul is perfectly saved. Still there is some change in its modal aspects. The non-absolute philosophy of the Jaina can well maintain, the permanence of the soul's substance through its functional variations. This situation does not present a moral difficulty. If the soul were held absolutely permanent, there would have been no action for moral judgement. If the soul were absolutely impermanent, merit must have gone unrewarded and
1. S.K. Maitra: Fundamentals of Indian Metaphysics and Logic, p. 99 2. Umāsvāti: Tattvārtha-sūtra, 5.8. 3. Akalanka: Rājavārtika, p. 458 4. Ibid., 5.16.4