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Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
volitions of realisational etc. types with reference to its modal aspect. Thus, the living one is non-renouncer as well as renouncer of its nature under septadic predication principle. It is only the absolutists who have the above flaws. They cannot be applied in case of non-absolutists. 24. Secondly, the disputant has not understood the Jaina concept properly. There is no salvation due to renouncing or non-renouncing of one's nature. The salvation is said to occur on the destruction of all the eight karmas due to following the path of salvation through the internal cause of right faith etc. in the presence of correcponding external causes by the karmically bonded living beings.
There is no total absence of fire even by foregoing its nature of hotness because it always exists in the form of mattergic reality. The hotness is one of the modes of mattergy. It does exist even in its absence through its quality of non-livingness and other modes. 25. Thirdly, we know that the eye has a nature of seeing the objects. However, there are situations (like sleep or stupor) when it does not see objects. Thus, it seems to forego its nature. However, this does not mean that there is the absence of the eyes under these conditions. Similarly, the object-viewing nature of the eye is destruction-cum-subsidential. This is not perceptible in case of the omniscients who have destroyed all the karmic obscurings where there is no sensory knowledge and, therefore, there is no corresponding nature of objectviewing by the eye. Thus, despite the existence of physical eye, there is foregoing of its nature. But it is not taken as indicative of the absence of the eye. In the same way, there is no absence of soul despite the destruction of realisational etc. volitions causing karmic bonding. This is due to the fact that there are always destructional volitions associated with the living beings which prove the existence of the soul. Supplementary Notes 1. The commentary deals with the following points : (a) The living real is characterised by the five volitions due to different karmic causes. They have been defined with illustrations wherever needed. (b) The order of the volitions in the aphorism has been justified. (c) These five volitions form a class of five varieties), hence there is singular number in the word "Tattvam' in the aphorism. (d) There cannot be the addition compound in the aphorism as it would lead to undesirable meaning. (e) The living soul may be maintaining its volitional nature substantively while it may change its nature modally. The use of septadic predication principle is realisatic in such cases. (f) The soul cannot be negated in the absence of these volitions as there are always destructional volitions there.
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