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the pure spiritualists typified by the Cārvākas (f) and the Vedāntists of India, respectively. For one, all is matter; For the other, all is soul."
"Thus at the very outset, Jainism sounds a clarion note of dissent from these one-sided views of Truth. It takes its stand on the plurality of the aspects of Truth, and teaches us that both the materialists and the spiritualists, are correct but only partially. Certainly, there is matter, there is Ajiva, thus Cārvāka is right and the Vedāntist wrong. There is also Spirit, there is Jîva; thus Vedāntist is true and Carvāka wrong. We must see both
as both are obvious. Take one broad common phenomenon
"
of death. John dies. The whole of John does not disappear. His body is there. His vitality is not. He is not there; he has gone from the body. That he' who has gone from the body and who, when he was with it and in it, made it alive', is the true John; the Jiva who was called John according to Jainism. The body which he wore and which he dropped or left on death, is the other partner in the firm of Soul and Matter; it is A-jîva, But here the point to be realised clearly is this-that Matter-one of the five chief forms of Ajiva-is in union with the soul, the only living and conscious substance. Lifeless matter is found united with living soul The whole drama of life is played or danced to-gether by the living soul being in close grasp of lifeless matter. Lifeless space is the stage. Lifeless time is the duration and lifeless Dharma and Adharma, the indispensable assistants for the dancers to move or rest. The exercise of dancing is their eternal move-ment in the cycle of mundane existences. At each step, the momentum for a new movement is gained; at each embrace of matter, the delighted, deluded soul, throbs and vibrates for a fresh embrace. Wily matter is ever ready to attack the Soul to flow into it with its million insinuations and to keep alive and vigorous, the bondage of the living by the non-living. The inflow of the non-living matter into the living soul is called Aśrava (r). The bondage is Bandha . The stoppage of Aśrava is Samvara ( . ); the release of bondage is Nirjarā
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| SR No. | 008001 |
| Book Title | Shraman Bhagvana Mahavira Part 1 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker |
| Publisher | Parimal Publication |
| Publication Year | 1989 |
| Total Pages | 650 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit |
| Classification | Book_English, Biography, History, & Religion |
| File Size | 15 MB |