Study of Jainism

SR No.: 001748
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 1988
Total Pages: 252
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Philosophy
File Size: 13 MB

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Study of Jainism
soul is embodied it is effected by the environment like the physical and social environment in different ways. This entanglement is beginningless. But it has an end. The end is perfection which the soul attains when it gets itself free from the encrustations of karma. Regarding the characteristic of its pervasion, it has been suggested that the soul has the power of pervading the entire body, big or small, just as the light of the lamp illumines the room big or small.19 Jacobi says that Jainas have a tenet of the size of the soul which is not shared by the other philosophers.20
Jiva is characterised by the upward motion (ürdhvagati). Nēmicandra describes the pure soul as possessing ürdhvagati.21 In the Pañcastikayasåra it is said that when the soul is free from all impurities it moves upwards to the end of the lõka. 22 The Jaina conception of soul as possessing ürdhvagati has more an ethical content than a metaphysical status. The main purpose appears to be to lead the soul to perfection in the Siddhasila. And this is possible if it has its inherent characteristic of upward motion. Similarly in the Pancastikayasdra the soul is described as imparting lustre to the body, just as a lotus hued ruby, when placed in a cup of milk, imparts its lustre to the milk.23
The embodied souls have been classified on the basis of various principles like the status and the number of sense organs possessed by them. There are the sthavara jivas, immovable souls. This is the vegetable kingdom. Then there are the trasa jivas, mobile souls. Trasa jivas have two to five senses. Worms, oysters, conches etc. possess taste and touch. They are two-sensed organisms. The five sensed organisms are amanaska and Samanaska. In Gommatasara jivakanda detailed classification of samsari jivas is given as in table No. 3.
From the phenomenal point of view jivas have been classified into fourteen types on the basis of Margana and Gunasthana. But from the pure point of view all souls are pure. 24 These distinctions have been based on the ethical and spiritual considerations, more than the metaphysical consideration. The purification of the soul depends on the subsidence and destruction of the karmus. When the karma is removed, the soul becomes pure and perfect. In the