Atma Dharma

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 25

( 18 )
experience of the taste of the food, though they might be longing to enjoy it. All this shows that the being of every soul is self-contained and quite independent of the being of any other soul in existence.
The error of those who propound the doctrine of there being only one soul in existence is due to their failure to distinguish between a genus or class and the individuals that are included in it. Their error is exactly like that which we should commit were we to confound manhood with humanity, i.e., human beings. It is true that with respect to manhood all human beings are alike, and that existence is common to all; but manhood and existence are purely mental abstractions invented for facility of human discourse and not concrete realities or things. There never was such a thing as manhood in nature which could be said to have subsequently given birth to, or to have been split up into, individuals. Nor shall the individuals be ever rolled up into their species at any time in the future. The fact is that manhood and existence are but qualities found in common among individuals and have no existence independently of them.
Qualities are either general or special. The general qualities are those that are found in common in all the six substances, while the special ones appertain to some specific substance, but not