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 189

Jaina Eschatology :: 185
it is inherent in the identity of the self. The limited and distorted self is only a form of the existence of the self. In being limited and distorted it has accepted the influence of the external world. It has undergone a transformation in its own powers on account of its association with the not-self. The capacity for distorted manifestation is the self's own quality which is tickled by the external factors. The Jaina also upholds the truth of the subjective side of the karma theory along with the other thinkers. He thinks that it is the soul itself which undergoes modifications which can be termed as the effects of the previous karmas and as the causes of the future ones. In other words the subjective karma is also interpreted in its two aspects, i.e., the causal and the consequential. Considered subjectively, for the Jaina, the karmas are a conscious manifestation of the soul; but he marks an advance over other thinkers by introducing the conception of materiality of karmas.
Materiality of Karmas
The general admission as regards the conception of karma is that they are the conscious impressions. On the subjective side the Jaina perfectly agrees with the view, but considered objectively he feels the necessity of something other than the soul which may stand for karmas. No substances can be obstructive to their own functions. there must be something alien to them to cause such an obstruction. The soul experiences limitation, obstruction and distortion of its powers, and the entity which causes them must not be the soul itself but something other than it. Prabhācandra establishes the materiality of karmas on the ground that the fall of the conscious soul must be due to something other than the soul itself. Refuting the position of the Yoga it is said that the karmas cannot be the functions of the soul. If they are the qualities and the function of the
1. Prabhācandra: Prameya-kamala-mārtansda, p. 66