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 166

162 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
affection. Just as the perceptual knowledge is tied to the given or presupposes the sensuous knowledge, so also the sense feeling must be there so as to give rise to emotional types of feeling.
The Distortion of the Faculty of Feeling by Karmas
The author of the Pañcādhyāyi accepts, at one place, the agency of all the eight kinds of karmas and, at another place, only of the four destructive kinds of karmas for the generation of pain and pleasure. It is also admitted in the Jaina scriptures that omniscient lord attains infinite bliss in the presence of the four non-destructive types of karmas. This appears to contradict one of the aforesaid statements. Let us suppsoe that all the karmas are obstructive to the manifestation of the faculty of bliss. Then, how can the omniscient lord be said to attain infinite bliss, when four types of karmas still cling to his soul? Infinite bliss cannot exist along with pleasurable and painful feelings. To say that pleasurable and painful feelings are there, but the lord is not deluded by them does not seem to be a consistent interpretation of facts. Feeling, as painful and pleasurable, is a state which is not immune from delusion. Feeling and delusion go together, except when feeling assumes a natural form in the absence of the agency of the deluding karmas. "The Jaina doctrine of karma does not give any explanation as to why the omniscient who is free from all attachment and aversion, does not give up all suffering and happiness. Because of the presence of his physical body he has to suffer or enjoy is not a satisfactory answer, inasmuch as despite the presence of the body he does not cognise through the media of the physical organs so also he may not experience any feeling.... Moreover the concealed cause of all pleasantness and unpleasantness is in the shape of passions and emotions. In the absence of passions and
1. Rājamalla: Pañcādhyāyi, verses 327 and 1107