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 459

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Pārva-Mimāṁsk
of the plurality of the egos and minds of persons.
All the Mimāmsā-philosophers -- S'abara, Prabhakara, Kumārila, Parthasārathi, etc., again discuss the possible size of the soul in the same manner. They argue if the soul were not omnipresent, it would be either atomic in size or of the size of the body.' If the soul is extremely small in size like the atom then it would be possible to have experiences of pleasure and would pain only in the part of the body, where the soul be located; and hence it would not be possible to experience the pain in head and in the foot simultaneously. If the soul would be moving constantly, it is difficult to get any sensation in a particular part of the body as the soul is nowhere stable. If on the contrary, the soul is supposed to possess the same size as of the body it occupies it would involve many fallacious consequences. The soul then would possess parts and would be eternal even with parts. The soul would then be formed by the conjunction of so many parts and would be liable to destruction by the damage of some of the parts or the body which it fills. The Jainas believe that the soul is of the size of the body and hence, they are led to the absurd conclusion that the same soul is capable of expansion and contraction to the sizes of the elephant and the ant, and it involves contradiction.3 But if the soul is immaterial, how can it then be subject to expansion and contraction ? The soul being
1 Mis’ra Pārthasārathi : S'āstradipikā. See 1.1.5, p. 124. 2 See Tantravārtika (S'ābarabhāşya), p. 519. 3 Mis'ra Pārthasārathi : S'āstradspikā. See 1.1.5, p. 125.
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