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 81

JAINA THEISM AND CONCEPT OF SOUL
65
Souls with bodies of various forms of earth, viz. stone, clay, etc. which have not suffered attack of friction, collision, cutting, etc. are to be understand as gross earth-bodied soul. Souls with bodies of various forms of water, viz. well water, river water, pond water, step well water, etc. which are not attacked by fire or not influenced by mixing some other substance with it are to be regarded as grosswater-bodied souls. Similarly, souls whose bodies are lamp, fire, lightning etc. are gross fire-bodied souls.
Souls, whose bodies are tree, its branches, sub-branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits, roots, bulbous roots, etc., are gross plant-bodies souls. When above-mentioned forms of living beings on earth are attacked by cutting, colliding, piercing, baking, etc.; souls depart from these leaving dead and soulless. Similarly, when water is boiled or mixed with sugar, etc. becomes dead and soulless. Even different forms of vegetation become dead and soulless when they are cut, burnt, etc.
The above discussion is about one sensed soul (Ekendriyajiva) who possesses only one organ of touch. Early Jaina observers saw the emergence of life everywhere from the element of earth, water, fire and air. Life manifested in vegetative forces became a special subject of study, for it provided better scope of observation.
Strange to say that from the Jaina doctrine of microscopic being filling the whole universe, some scholars are led to believe that Jainism is a very primitive since it believes that nearly everything is possessed of a soul; not only have plants their own souls but particles of earth, water, fire and air also. Thus Jaina philosophy is called sometimes animistic philosophy; however, Jaina scripture reveals that Jainism is not an animistic faith. “Jaina philosophy does not teach that everything from the solar system to the dew-drops has a soul.”-The whole universe is packed with the
28 Jacobi, ‘Jaina Sūtras’, Part 11, P-XXXIII