Samayasara

SR No.: 006530
Original Sutra Author: Kundkundacharya
Author: Jethalal S Zaveri
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 2009
Total Pages: 336
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Agam, & Canon
File Size: 15 MB

Page 38

Chapter - 1
Padhamo Jīvādhiyāro
The Self
Characteristics of the Self and the Non-self
जीवो चरित्तदंसणणाणट्ठिदो तं हि ससमयं जाण । पोग्गलकम्मुपदेसट्ठिदं च तं जाण परसमयं ॥ २ ॥ jīvo carittadamsaṇaṇāṇaṭṭhido tam hi sasamayam jāṇa. poggalakammupadesaṭṭhidam ca tam jāņa parasamayam.. 2
(Tam Jivo) That soul which (caritta-damsaṇa-nāṇa-ṭṭhido) is totally absorbed in pure darśana [faith] jñāna [knowledge] and căritra [conduct] is (hi) for sure, (jāṇe) to be known as (sasamayam) the pure self (ca) while (tam) that one which (poggala-kammapadesatthidam) is engrossed in material karmapradeśa (jāṇa) must be known as (parsamayam) impure self.
Annotations :
The chapter commences with a categorical definition of the self and the non-self by specifying respective characteristics of each.
Jīva is a real substance which is the nucleus of Jain philosophy and its characteristic-unalienable attribute is cetană or consciousness. Thus consciousness and jīva are eternally coextensive. Hence consciousness is to be posited even in the lowest class of organisms, such as plants, which possess only one sense-organ, viz., that of touch (which includes pain). Pudgala or matter- physical order of existence is devoid of cetana and is characterized by taste, colour etc. and thus can be apprehended by sense perception. Both jīva and pudgala are eternal substances.
Every living organism is an organic unity of these two antithetic elements-Jīva and Pudgala which are empirically known as the soul and the body. An organism is thus an embodied consciousness, Soul, itself, is amūrta (non-corporeal) and arūpī (non-imperceptible), whereas body has opposite qualities and is mūrta and rūpī. And thus crops up the complex problem of the relation between the two.