Soul Substance Jiva Dravya As Expounded In Dravya Sangraha

SR No.: 269765
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vijay K Jain
Total Pages: 26
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 882 KB

Page 9

Soul Substance (jīva dravya)
Ācārya Nemicandra's Dravyasamgraha defines soul (jīva) thus:
जीवो उवओगमओ अमुत्ति कत्ता सदेहपरिमाणो । HITTIT Horrent fheat H fakunçuş 11 2 11
The soul (jīva) is characterized by consciousness (cetanā) that is concomitant with cognition (upayoga), is incorporeal (amūrta), a causal agent (kartā), coextensive with the body (sadehaparimāņa), enjoyer of the fruits of karmas (bhoktā), having the world as its abode (samsārastha), liberated (Siddha), and of the nature of darting upwards (ürdhvagamana).
Jivatva or cetana -consciousness
The nature of the soul is consciousness (jīvatva or cetanā). In all its manifestations (pariņāma), the soul does not leave its nature of consciousness. Consciousness is inherent to the soul and does not depend on rise, subsidence, destruction, or destructioncum-subsidence of karmas.
Consciousness is of three kinds: 1. jñāna-cetanā - knowledge-consciousness; 2. karma-cetanā or bhāva-karma-karma-consciousness; and 3. karma-phala-cetanā -fruit-of-karma-consciousness.
In reality, the soul is the knower and the embodiment of knowledge. The knower and the knowledge are one; knowledge is not an instrument extraneous to the soul as knowledge is the function of soul alone. Knowledge cannot subsist anywhere else than in the soul. The soul and the knowledge are coextensive; neither less nor more. These two are the expression of the same thing, like the fire and the heat.
The function of knowledge is to illumine the self as well as other objects of knowledge. The manifestation of knowledge in the soul is knowledge-consciousness (jñāna-cetanā). The soul knows the object of knowledge as in a mirror. In pure state, when the soul is free from the four destructive or malignant types of karmas, namely, knowledge-obscuring (jñānāvaraṇīya), faith-deluding (darśanavaranīya), faithdeluding (mohaniya), and obstructive (antarāya) karmas, it manifests pure consciousness and is endowed with infinite and direct knowledge. In the embodied state, until the attainment of infinite-knowledge (kevalajñāna), the soul manifests knowledge - from almost unintelligible to almost perfect - depending on its state of existence and the extent to which the destruction of imperfections and their causes has taken place.
(9)