Outlines of Jainism

SR No.: 007012
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 216
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

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102
JAINISM
(puruṣaveda), hankering after woman (strīveda) and hankering after both the sexes (napussakaveda).10
Emotional disturbance in man results in acts of various kinds which in turn entangle him more and more into the shackles of life's varied experience. In terms of Indian thought involvement in life characterized by emotions and passions prevents man from escaping from the cycle of birth and death. Since emotions differ in intensity, actions resulting from them have also differing effects on the individual jīva by determining the 'period of bondage'. The Jaina philosophers make use of the term leśya to indicate the closely-knit pattern resulting from the mingling of passion and action. Activity coloured by passions is described as leśya.11 We need not go into all the details about the various types of leśya, but suffice it to make note of the fact that passions in general excite the senses to indulge themselves in sensuous objects. K.C. Sogani makes a significant point when he observes that this may itself be considered as a proof for the view that knowledge by the senses is liable to be infected by passions. They work to such an extent that when pleasant things depart and unpleasant ones come closer, one is put to severe anxiety and it results in the loss of mental serenity.12
Ultimately speaking, the result of emotional disturbance (which is itself symptomatic of the loss of mental equanimity) is that the jiva gets enmeshed in the kārmic cycle more and more. The Jaina theory of emotion is thus consistent with their ethical theory in so far as the latter contains in it the definite suggestion that sensory and mental excitations are ultimately hindrances to man's enjoying purity of bliss and fullness of existence.
10 Ibid., vill. 9 11 Gommatasāra, 489
12 K.C. Sogani, Ethical Doctrines in Jainism (Sholapur : Jaina Saṁskrti Sangha, 1967), p. 54