________________
140
JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XLII, NO.3 JANUARY. 2008
and ajīva (non living beings) and who is adored by the entire community of heavenly gods.”
Thus without having the knowledge of dravya, how can any body know correctly the supreme soul (Jinendradeva)? If one does not know the true nature of the supreme soul, how can one worship them properly and with all obeisances ? Therefore, one of the most respected ācāryas today, Kundakunda says that the main reason to destroying delusion is to know the substance, its attributes and modes as given in the following verse.
jo jāņadi arihamtam davvatta-guņatta-pajjayattehim, so jāņadi appāņam moho khalu jādi tassa layam
“One who knows the supreme soul by its substance, modes and attributes, knows his selfand destroys the delusion in the process.”
We, therefore, infer that knowledge of substance, its modes and attributes enable us to get the correct knowledge of soul and supreme soul thereby destroying delusion, the root cause of all our problems. Hence it is not only important but essential to have full knowledge of the nature and concept of substance.
2. Characteristics of substance/dravya.
Dravya is a definitive term of Jain philosophy which in general represents an entity of an object. This is why Jain Ācārya Umāsvāmī (2nd century AD) writes :
sat dravya-lakṣaṇam" i.e. reality (existent) is the characteristics of dravya / substance. What is real is substance. Now, the question arises what reality / sat is. He then proceeds to say the following:
utpāda-vyaya-dhrauvya-yuktan sat
3. 4. 5.
Pravacanasāra - 80 Tattvārthasūtra 5/29 ibid 5 / 30
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
