tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 316

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Atman and Mokşa
Bhatta remarks - "The soul does not shine like a vessel (ghata) by the knowledge of it generated in us; it shines by itself; it is self-luminous (svayamprakasate). Consciousness is its natural property; it is not produced in it by any other instrument.." Thus, the soul reveals itself to us as 'I' or the object of first person. We cannot know our soul as 'this' or 'that' object of the world, which reveals to us always in the third person. These two experiences are entirely different from each other and are also exclusive of each other. No other object except our own inner soul can reveal itself to us as 'I'. Jayanta Bhațța more elaborately describes it in his following verse — " Just like the vessel (ghata), etc., .... the knowledge of happiness as this happiness (idam sukham) does not reveal to us; the awareness or experience that 'I am happy'reveals in it our soul."2 The Bhāṣā Pariccheda also presents the same argument to establish the existence of one's soul. It states -“ It (the soul) is the substratum of egoism, and is known only through the mind. '3 The soul serves as the abode of our sense of 'Thood' or 'egohood'. The soul is thus, revealed to the knower himself as his 'I' and as explained above the souls of others can be known by inference of it from their activities 1 Bhatta Jayanta : Nyāya Manjari, p. 431.
म हि आत्मा जन्येन ज्ञानेन घटादिरिव प्रकाशते। चेतनत्वमपि तस्य नैसर्गिकमेव। 2 Ibid. p. 433. 3 Madhavānanda (Swami): Bhasa Paricched, p. 79.
अहंकारस्याश्रयोऽयं मनोमात्रस्यगोचर ।
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