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not only believes in the existence of soul but also proves its existence with all its logic, examples etc.
Jain ācāryas in their philosophical works have presented many reasons/logic to prove the existence of soul. Acārya Samantabhadra (6/7 century AD) has written a full text on 'The Existence of Soul', named as Jīvasiddhi' and gave many reasons to establish the existence of soul. Some important reasons given by Jain ācāryas to prove the existence of soul are as follows:
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JAIN JOURNAL: VOL-XLII, NO.4 APRIL. 2008.
i. Like a mechanical statue, with its features, tries to establish the existence of its sculptor, similarly capabilities (prāņas) like breathing etc, establish the existence of soul2
ii. I am happy, I am sad etc. etc. such feelings involving 'I' automatically proves the existence of soul.3
Besides these supporting arguments, the Syādvādamanjari gives this fullproof reason to establish the existence of soul. "What is the knowledge that this is soul? Is this knowledge a doubt (samsaya) or perverse (viparyaya), or indecisiveness (anadhyavasaya) or is true? It has to be some sort of knowledge. If it is a doubt, then it proves the existence of soul, as we do not doubt non-existent entities. If it is
iii. Since there is the word 'Soul', there should be a meaning of this word also. An entity which does not exist is also not representable by words4
iv. Attributes (knowledge and bliss etc.) cannot exist without their owner (guņi). That owner of these attributes is soul only.5
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