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 490

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
458
Atman and Mokpa
over the whole body for, the soul would then be localised in some part of the body due to its atomicity. If again intelligence of the soul pervades the whole body, the soul cannot be atomic; since intel. ligence constitutes the proper nature of it, just as heat and light constitute the essential nature of fire. The qualities cannot be separated from the objects whose qualities they are. For the above mentioned difficulties the soul cannot be atomic. S'amkara further points out that the coul cannot have the size of the body which it occupies as the Jainas hold, for, then the same soul would be as big as an elephant and as small as an ant since, it fills completely the bodies of these animals, and it would then involve contradictions. In that case the soul would be changing. If the soul is continually being repleted and depleted by the successive addition and withdrawl of parts, it, of course, follows that it is non-permanent like the skin and similar substances. Thus, due to its changeability the soul would be impermanent. S'amkara says—"Now this is appropriate only in the case of the atomicity of the soul being metaphysical while its infinity is real; for both statements cannot be taken in their primary sense, at the same time.. Hence, the statement about aņutva (smallness, subtlety) has to be understood as referring either to the difficulty of knowing the soul, or else to its limiting adjuncts."'3 By disproving the possibility of
"S'amkara (Com.) on Vedānta Sūtras (Tr. Thibaut), 2.3.29, Vol. II, p. 43.
2 Ibid. 2.3.35 (Tr.), Vol. I, p. 432. 3 Ibid. 2.3.29 (Tr.), Vol. II, p. 44.
For Private And Personal