Concept of Paryaya in Jain Philosophy

Author(s): S R Bhatt, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 59

The Concept of Paryaya and Jaina Way of Life 47 According to Jainism, the nature of reality is dynamic and therefore the substance must evolve into qualities (gunas) and modifications (paryayas) and must constantly undergo the three stages of origination, annihilation, and permanence or stability. In fact, the entire dynamic process of development is due to mutual action and reaction between the soul (the self or jiva) and the non-soul, (ajiva or unconscious matter), because of their evolutionary (parinami) nature. This parinami or evolutionary nature endows them with the characteristics of both bhava parinama and parispanda or kriya parinama, i.e. evolutions into being and evolutions into action. Space and Time, however, are endowed only with bhava parinamas. 18 It follows then that full completeness of existence is not realised either in a substance or a quality or a modification taken singly or separately but only in these taken together. Such separateness would suggest a cleavage between the evolutes and the evolving reality reducing each of them in their separation to nonexistence. Jainism makes its position clear by citing the example of gold. Just as gold realises its own nature as an existence through its qualities like yellowness, malleability, etc. and through its modifications or changes of form like ear-ring, bangle, etc., which all proceed from gold as a substance. Even then any substance realises its complete existence only in and through its qualities and modifications varying under variable circumstances. Existence is, thus, in the complete sense of the term, to be equated with a substance with all its qualities and changes of form which are themselves real. And this holds good of the conscious substance as well as of the unconscious. In order to obviate the difficulties inherent in Nyaya Vaisesika doctrine of arambhavada or the theory of emergence (arambha) of something new, so that the quality or modification which is arabhyate (emerges) must be something new and different from the consequent causes, Jainism postulates the principle of parinama according to which the qualities and modifications are the self-evolutions of the substance having an identity of essence with it. Moreover, Jainism points out that in spite of this metaphysical or real identity between the dravya and gunas and paryayas, there is a logical and conceptual distinction between them. "The qualities and modifications," Kalipada Mitra states, "are both bhinna or distinct as well