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anything like Ātmā or not? Your doubt is caused by mutualiy conflicting verses of the Vedas.
The Yéda-pada (the verse of the Vedas) is as under:
Vijnāna ghana évaitebhyo bhūtébhyaḥ samutthāya tānyévā’nuvinaśyati, na prétya sanjnā'stiti.
You have been interpreting the meaning of this verse as follows:
You really believe that this vinānaghana (aggregate mass of various kinds of knowledge) i-e Ātma-capable of performing different kinds of actions such as walking, running, eating, etc, having been produced from a particular combination of the five gross elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) becomes dissolved, on death into those same elements; and that there is no technical term like prétya (future life).
That is to say The aggregate mass of various kinds of knowledge for instance of a pot, of a house or, of a human being, resulting from their embodied forms produced by a combination of the five natural elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) is only derived from the mass of gross elements. Also, you hold that there is no substance like Ātmā (Soul), which the believers in the doctrine of the existence of Atmā, accept it to be the receptacle of Jnana (Knowledge). Because you seem to hold the idea that knowledge is derived from combinations of the five elements, and you consequently believe that the five elements should be considered as the main source of knowledge, and you think that just as the power of causing intoxication arises from the various constituents of an intoxicating mixture, in the same way, the faculty of knowing, is produced from the five elements embodied in various body-forms. In this way, the mass of different kinds of knowledge is produced from combinations of the five elements arranged in numerous forms. In the same way, when the five elements arranged in various body-forms, are dissolved at death, the mass of knowledge of substances, disappears into the five elements like a bubble of water into water. Consequently,
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| SR No. | 008003 |
| Book Title | Shraman Bhagvana Mahavira Part 2 Vibhag 2 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker |
| Publisher | Parimal Publication |
| Publication Year | 1989 |
| Total Pages | 802 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit |
| Classification | Book_English, Biography, History, & Religion |
| File Size | 20 MB |