Sruta Sarita

SR No.: 001940
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 310
Language: English, Prakrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Articles
File Size: 18 MB

Page 13

ŚRUTA-SARITĀ
as dealing with the conduct, and so it is assumed that philosophical problems cannot be found in these texts. But as the Ācārānga is the oldest canonical text we cannot ignore it. (See Avaśyakaniryuktițīkā by Haribhadra, Mūlabhāsyagāthā 124 and Niryukti gāthā 777; Sūtrakrtāngacūrni, p. 3; Višesāvaśyakabhāsya, gāthās 2752—2777.) So an attempt is made here to trace in the Ācārānga the beginning of the philosophical ideas of the Jainas.
From the very first sentences of the Ācārānga it is clear that the migration of the soul is accepted, and it is mentioned that one who accepts this migration of the soul is ātmavādi, lokavādī, karmavādī and kriyavādi ("se āyāvādi, logavādī, kammavädī, kiriyavādī” Ācārānga 3). This shows that the Jaina philosophy is not Akriyāvāda or Nāstikavāda, because it accepts the soul, the Karma, and its results.
The existence of the soul was accepted by the Upanisadic philosophers. While it was one according to them, the theory of many souls is propounded in the Ācārānga (santi pānā pudho sitā Ācār. 11 and 49; santi pānā udayanissiyā jīvā anegā Ācār. 26; also see Ācār. 37 and 49). This may be compared with the many Cittas of to the nature of this acittamanta we find no specific mention, only from description of the nature of the pure soul in Ācār. 176 we can conclude that this accittamanta was conceived as having colour etc. which are the qualities of the matter (i. e. non-soul). In this way, jīva (citta) and acitta (ajiva) are the two categories with which the Jainas were concerned in the times of Acārānga.
The migration of the soul depends on its karma and a being can be trasa or sthāvara according to its karma. This is clearly mentioned :
adu thāvarā ya tasattāe, tasajivā ya thāvarattäe. adu vā savvajoniyā sattā kammunā kappiyā pudho bālā.
(Ācār. 267). This explains the samsāra of the soul (Ācār. 49, 134, 149). And in order to explain this samsāra, a substance other than the soul was necessary, and that was acetana or acitta (i.e. ajīva). The samsāra is the bondage, and the soul should be liberated from it (Ācār. 144, 45, 104, 155).
The purpose of religion was to liberate from bondage, and this was the main theme of Ācārānga (Ācār. Ni. 9). Visible bondage was the external body, and internal bondage were the passions and the karmaśarira (Ācār. 99) : this karmasārīra was of the nature of non-soul and so it was material. Thus the soul is bound by the external and internal bodies, and its parigraha includes the external material substances (acitta) which constitute the bondage. Had there not been anything except the soul, the bondage had not been possible. In order to