Pravachanasara

SR No.: 003289
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram
Publication Year: 1964
Total Pages: 612
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 16 MB

Page 92

Introduction
topic to the other; repetition is met with in some two or three places which might be possibly due to the inclusion of some traditional gathās. The author is not merely a dogmatist here; at times he plays the rôle of a logician: he expects certain objections, himself raises certain questions, and tries to answer them.2 Thus Pravacanasāra combines in itself an academic treatise as well as a practical manual for a novice ready to enter the ascetic order. Though sometimes the ideas are repeated, there is no verbosity of style; considering the passages like the statement of Syādvāda, the definition of Jiva etc.,3 one feels that many of his utterances are really sūtras short in form but pregnant with significance. There is an ease about his discussions. Throughout the work there is the flavour of the masterly grasp of a mature mind. Such simplicity of style and directness of appeal are possible only from him who has himself tasted the ambrosia of direct spiritual experience.
d) Philosophical Aspect of Pravacanasāra 1. DOGMATICAL BACK-GROUND OR THE JAINA ONTOLOGY.-The object of knowledge (artha) is made up of substances that are characterised by qualities, and with which moreover are associated the modifications (II, 1). Origination and destruction simultaneously take place in qualities and modes, when their substratum, namely the substance, permanently retains its existential character (II, 5, 7, 37 etc.). There are two classes of substances: sentient comprising Jivas alone, and insentient (Ajiva) comprising matter (Pudgala), the fulcrum of motion (Dharma), the fulcrum of rest (Adharma), space (Akäsa) and time (Kāla). To give their characteristics: Jiva, or the soul or spirit, is constituted of sentiency and manifestation of consciousness: Pudgala or matter is insentient and endowed with colour, taste, smell and touch to its last subtle condition; Dharma is the condition of movement; Adharma, the condition of rest; Akasa or space gives room; and Kāla or time marks the continuity. Excepting Pudgala all are non-concrete or formless (amūrta), i.e., devoid of sense qualities and not amenable to sense-perception (II, 41-2). Excepting time all the substances have got extension in space, while time occupies only one space-point; so time is not an Astikāya (II, 43). Jivas are many: liberated or non-liberated; if non-liberated, they are found in four grades of existence and different embodiments according to their karmas. Matter is found in the form of aggregates or primary atoms, and is of various kinds. The ultimate indivisible unit of matter is the primary atom (paramāņu); it is an unit of [p. 63:] space-measurement (prades'a). The whole world is fully packed with material bodies, subtle or gross, capable of being received as karmas or not by the soul. Dharma and Adharma are one-all-pervasive substances which are coextensive with the physical space. Akāsa or space is of two kinds: Lokākāśa or the physical space wherein are accommodated all these substances for all the time, and Alokākāśa, nonphysical or super-physical space (which is beyond Lokākāśa) where there is nothing but mere space that extends infinitely; the ultimate unit of space is a space-point or
1 For instance the various statements of Subhopayoga in all the three Books, see the Index. 2 Compare for instance I, 24-5; II, 81; etc. 3 See II, 23, 80 etc.