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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232 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
souls, and so it cannot be removed from the list of the pure qualities of the siddhas. Moreover it has been shown and established that bliss is also an attribute of the soul. When the karmas are exhausted, this attribute must be left there to undergo a process of pure manifestations. This very faculty must be identified with the infinite bliss of the kevalis or the perfect ones.
Extension of the Liberated Souls
The Jaina theory of substance makes extension an essential aspect of every substance, so the soul must have an extension even in liberation. This extension is a mode of expression of the soul's capacity of having predeśas (pradeśavatva). The soul has many such pradeśas and occupies a definite position in space, though offering no resistence to other substances. We should not think that the soul has extension only so far as it is in association with the body. Extension is an existential implicate of its own existence. Its association with the body or, to go still deeper, its association with the karmas is responsible for contraction and expansion. Akalañka says: “On account of the body-making karma, like the light of a lamp, the soul is said to possess contraction and expansion."1 This capacity results from the negativity of the soul. In the absence of the karmas it loses all its potency, and the soul is left with a fixed extension. As regards this extension of the soul in liberation the Jaina is of opinion that it has the same dimension as the last body the soul possessed.? We can deduce this conclusion from the premises the Jaina has established. Up to the attainment of the last body the karmas remain there to determine contraction and expansion of the soul. They work up to the moment just preceding the soul's liberation. Then the soul is left free from karmas. So the extension left with it is the same as that of the last body. With the disappearance of the
1. Akalanka: Rājavārtika, 10.4.14 2. Nemicandra: Dravyasangraha, verse 14