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Preface
paryaya (mode) and of such capacities is called Dravya from the point of view of difference among them. But Dravya is gunaparyayavat from the point of view of non-difference among them because of paryaya being like their own causative guņas and gunas being like Dravya. That is to say, Dravya, guna and paryaya are different from one another from the subjective point of view, but non-different from the objective point
of view.
xi
Thus Dravya (Substance) is the crux of Jaina Metaphysics and Physics in particular and a central theme of some Indian systems of thought in general, while substance (i.e. Dravya) is the pivotal point of philosophy of Spinoza and Prof. Bertrand Russel. It was natural for the Jainacāryas to begin their metaphysical inquiry into the problem with the notion of Dravya, a notion which has a continuous history in Jaina philosophy from its very beginning upto the present time as is found in the case of notion of substance from Aristotle to Descartes.
The Jaina concept of Dravya compares well with that of substance of Spinoza, the central theme of his metaphysics, "A substance, all of whose attributes and modifications can be deduced from its own essential nature, and all whose attributes are necessary and not contingent, can be described as cause of itself, (cause sui) and only such a substance can be so described". Prof. Bertrand Russel defines a substance as "that which can only enter into a proposition as subject, never as predicate or relation. Metaphysically, substances have generally been held to be indestructible."
Jain Education International
According to Jaina metaphysics, an entity has got two aspects-permanent and non-permanent, static and dynamic. It undergoes change without giving up its essential nature. In the experience of life all entities appear to be permanent-in-change. Dravya as Reality has two aspects-permanent and non-permanent. If JIvadravyas (living substances) and Ajivadravyas (non-living substances) were devoid of modifications, there would have never occurred the variabilities in the Universe as a united form of these two realities. Hence the principle of per
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