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

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190 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
contradicts the dictum that "no attribute is transformed into another attribute." Secondly, in the absence of the karmgs the function of the attribute of negativity must be held to be suspended—which, according to the Jaina conception of substance, must result in the non-existence of the soul itself. Rāmānuja and Aurobindo also held māyā to be a power of self-limitation intrinsic to the constitution of Brahma. They also held that in the pure state this principle ceases to function. The Jaina conception of vibbāva sakti or negativity is in agreement with the view of the Viớiştādvaita, and, by not assigning a status of an attribute to it. the Jaina very consistently unites the principles of self-limitation and selfmanifestation in the soul.
The Relation Between the Soul and the Karmas
The Jiva and the material karma, thus, come in contact with each other on account of the negativity (vibhāva sakti) possessed by the two. The Jīva is said to possess the susceptibility of being affected by the karmas and the karma, in their turn, have the capacity of so modifying themselves that they become instruments in the process of psychic manifestations. Now the problem is whether this relation between the soul and the karmas should be designated as interactionism or parallelism.
We must bear in mind a basic conception of the Jaina philosophy which lies behind all such problems. The conception is that no substance can transform itself into another, the transformations are limited to the identity of the substance which may be interpreted in terms of its constitutive attributes. In other words in the process of transformation the modes do not transgress the limits laid by the attributes. Hence for the Jaina the question of transformation of the spiritual substance into the material one and vice versa does not at all arise. If interactionism means a mutual transformation of the energies of the soul
1. Ibid., verse 1009