________________
Nandi Sootra
It has been presented in such charan-karan style that if a person is engrossed in its studies, he becomes a scholar and an expert of the subject.
This concludes the description of Sutrakrutang Sutra.
COMMENTARY -The numerous meanings of the terms Sutrakrit are - that which explains all beings and things is Sutrakrit; that which shows the right path to the beings who have been caught into the trap of attachment or have drifted away from the right path is Sutrakrit; that which systematically compiles numerous subjects, sects and their branches, and beliefs, as pearls in a string, is Sutrakrtt.
The forms of lok (inhabited space), alok (un-inhabited space or the space beyond), and lokalok inhabited and un-inhabited space) have been defined in Sutrakritang Sutra. No dravya (substance) changes its fundamental form; neither does it take the form of any other dravya (substance).
This dravyatva (the fundamental attribute of being substance) of dravya has been defined. It has been shown that pure being is Shuddhatma (pure soul) or Pararnatma (Ultimate- or Super-soul); pure non-being is matter; and the worldly being is that which has a body which comes into existence due to the combination of soul and matter.
Sutrakritang Sutra discusses principles of sva-darshan (own philosophy or Jain philosophy), par-darshan (other philosophy) and sva-par-darshan or ubhayadarshan (comparative philosophical view). The brief introduction of other philosophical schools is as follows
Kriyavadi - They consider the concept of nine fundamentals as baseless and false. As they are ignorant of and apathetic to the true form of religion, they favour the indulgence in superficial/ ostentations and rituals. As they believe in the supremacy of a creator God they are also known as astik (theists). They are said to be of 120 different types.
Akriyavadi - They oppose the nine fundamentals and proscribe the following of codes of conduct. They are generallycounted among the agnostics. They are said to be of 24 types. In the eighth sthana (chapter) of Sthanang Sutra eight types of akriyavadts have been listed. They are
Ekavadi - They have faith in one thing only. Those who deny every other thing than that one are all ekavadis (monists) or advaitavadi (non-dualists). Some thinkers postulate that everything in this world is based on matter; some others believe that shabd (sound) is supreme, and still others that Brahma (the creator God) is supreme.
Anekavadi - They believe that all the constituent parts of a thing have their own independent entitative existence. All the available attributes in nature have their individual subjects. As their are infinite variations of a thing they believe in multiplicity of every single thing.
Mitavadi - They believe that the universe is confined to the seven continents and seas. They consider soul to be a minute entity, at the most, of the size of a human thumb, and not enveloping the body or all enveloping. They consider only the normally visible beings as living beings and not the minute or invisible organisms. All these who have such truncated views about soul are called mitavadi.
Nirmitavadi - They believe that this world is a creation of some one power or the other. This class includes all those who believe in some invisible divine power or its conceptual form like Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Devi, etc. as creator, sustainer, and destroyer. Aagam- 44 -NandiSootra
Compiled by- Deepratnasagar
