Jainism a Theistic Philosophy

SR No.: 006918
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishna A Gosavi
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 2012
Total Pages: 358
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 247

JAINA VIEW OF SOUL COMPARED WITH ......
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The Nyāya-Vaišeșikas adopt the realistic view of the self. According to them, the self is a unique substance, to which all cognitions, feeling and conation belong as its attributes. Desire. aversion and volition, pleasure, pain and cognition are all qualities of soul. These cannot belong to the physical substance, since they are not physical qualities perceived by the external senses. There are different selves in different bodies, because their experiences do not overlap but are kept distinct. The self is indestructible and eternal. It is infinite or ubiquitous (vibhu) all pervasive, since it is not limited by time and space.
The body or senses cannot be self because consciousness cannot be attribute of the material body or sense. The body is, by itself, unconscious and unintelligent. The senses cannot explain functions like imagination, memory, ideation, etc. which are independent of the external senses. The manas too cannot take the place of the self.
Pleasure and pain are experienced or perceived by us. Nor can the self be identified with series of cognitions as in Buddha philosophy for them memory become inexplicable. The Advaita Vedāntin's idea of the self as eternal self, shining intelligence is no more acceptable to the Naiyāyikas than that of the Buddhist. There is no such thing as pure intelligence unrelated to some subject and object. Consciousness cannot subsist without a certain locus. Hence the self is not intelligence as such, but a substance having intelligence as its attribute. The self is not mere consciousness or knowledge, but a knower, an ego or the land also an enjoyer (bhoktā). 50
Although knowledge or consciousness belongs to the self as an attribute, yet it is not an essential and inseparable attribute of it. All cognition or conscious state arise in the self when it is related to the manas (mind), and the manas is related to the senses, and senses
Nyāya-sūtra-bhāsya, 3.1.4