Shraman Bhagvana Mahavira Part 3

SR No.: 008004
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker
Publisher: Parimal Publication
Publication Year: 1989
Total Pages: 586
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English, Biography, History, & Religion
File Size: 14 MB

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(0) Summary of the Text.
We give below a summary of the text of Ganadharavasis which is contained in Güthās running from 1549 to 2054 of the Viseşāvašyaka Bhasya.
(i) Jiva:-Iudrabhūti Gautama, the first Ganadhara, puts forward his doubt about the existence of Soul and śramana Bhagavāna Mahavira removes the doubt by means of various evidences and Illustrations. Explaining the meaning of the word. Jira' the Bhagavāna remarks that liva' does not signify body-déha-but it signifies the soul-atma-which is full of cognizance, Body is only inanimate.
Smpli ( remembrance), jijñāsā ( desire for knowledge ), czkirşa ( desire for activity ), jigamişā ( desire for movements ) and sams'aya (doubt) etc are the properties of Soul, which being self-evident is pratyakşa or directly apprehended Since body is corporeal and physically visible, properties, like cognizance etc. cannot reside into it. These properties are contained in Soul, because it is a-mūrta or incorporeal and a-cākşuşa or beyond the range of physical sight. This shows that Soal is absolutely different from body.
In reply to the argument of the Vedāntists that Soul, being one and the same everywhere, can never be classified, Sramana Bhagavāna Mahavira Swami contends that if the Soul were one absolute entity. prevading everywhere, it ought to have been apprehended as one all-pervading element like akāśa even in case of each and every pinça. or body. But that is not so. The Soul varies with the shape and size of pinda or body. Besides, if we deny the existence of Soul, there would be nothing like sukha-duhkha and Bandha-Moksa in this world.
The Soul is accepted as vrjñānaghana or an assemblage of many vijñānas (cognitions), firstly because it is identical with vijñāna which is upayoga (attention) either of the type of jñāna (knowledge) or that of dartara (perception) and