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 205

Jaina Eschatology :: 201
as the ultimate source of psychical phenomena. He says: "Instinct is not the whole of life. The mind is not only a bundle of separate instincts. For the solution of the central mystery of life and mind and will we must go behind instincts to find a life movement which is primitive and fundamental. The inadequacy of instincts as an explanation of the mental forces that maintain and shape all the life of the individuals and societies becomes manifest... in connection with the highest moral thought and conduct of man. ." The ultimate source of all psychical functions must be held in the life energy itself, and not in the sexual energy or any other type of energy which is merely a differentiation of the basic energy. The Jaina very explicitly holds that the faculties and powers of the soul undergo various differentiations under the influence of different karmas, and that the life energy may be considered as one from the synthetic view-point and as many from the analytic viewpoint. The sub-classes enumerated under the psychical group of karma forces include much besides the various mental energies conceived so far. The Jaina has been able to give a more exhaustive and scientific classification of the self's power in relation with the karma-forces than one so far made by the philosophers and the psychologists.
The Physiological Class of Karmas
The growth of matter associated with life is different from that of lifeless matter. This marks a close relation between the organism and the principle of consciousness behind it. The organism is seen to be affected by the conciousness, which, in turn, is affected by the organic changes. The karma sarira of the Jaina functions as a link between them. The physique-making karma is said to effect the condition (gati) of existence, i.e., the structure of the jivas material body and the transference to other conditions of existence. The secondary divisions of the nāma (pysique
1. Mc Dougall: Instinct and Personality, p. 51