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<9». Soul (Jiva) and Consciousness in Jainism
Dr. Narayan Lal Kachhara
Ex-Principal, Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College, Allahabad
E-mail: nlkachhara@yahoo.com
1 Soul (Jiva) in Jainism
In Jain metaphysics the universe comprises of six kinds of substances, two of them Jiva (soul) and pudgala (matter) are active substances and the other four i.e. dharmastikaya (the passive agent that helps motion of jiva and pudgala), adharmastikaya (the passive agent that helps the rest position of jivå and pudgala), akasa (space) and kala (time) are inactive substances. Jiva is sentient and pudgala is non-sentient substance, the two can combine according to some defined rules. The smallest indivisible constituent of pudgala is paramanu and all matter and energy (or any other form of physical order of existence) in the universe are aggregates of paramanu. The jiva is found in two states pure and impure, all embodied souls are impure.
The term Jiva connotes that Soul is conscious of itself and consciousness also is invariably soul. The Jiva is non-corporeal, living, eternal and permanent, and fixed (constant) substance of the Cosmic Universe, having the attributes of consciousness (Chetana). Jiva is the generic name of sentient substance. Jiva substance is non-physical and is not sense - perceptible; it does not have the properties of color, smell, taste and touch. Consciousness and upayoga (manifestation of consciousness) are the differentia of the jiva. Upayoga and consciousness are the two sides of the same entity jiva. Consciousness may be interpreted both as a structure and a function of the jiva but upayoga refers to the functional side only. Upayoga gives us almost the same meaning as we get by being mentally active. Just as a mental activity is a fact of mental functioning and a mental capacity, a fact of mental structure; in the same way consciousness or chetana may be taken as a fact of the jiva's structure and upayoga, as a fact of the jiva's function.
Consciousness is the generality of the attributes (if not of all the attributes of the jiva), which distinguish the jiva from the inanimate. Upayoga is the generality of the manifestations of such attributes. Both of them are comprehensions of the
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