Essence Of Jaina Scriptures

Author(s): Jagdish Prasad Jain
Publisher: Kaveri Books

Page 52

THE ESSENCE OF JAINA SCRIPTURES
its manifest forms or modes.
It is this jiva tattva, the essential nature of jiva, i.e. chetana, sentiency or consciousness-as-such (parinamika bhava), which is existent in all states, stages in the three times (past, present and future) of jiva, whether in its transmigratory and embodied condition or its liberated state, and is said to be other (anya) than the six classes of transmigratory and embodied jivas (jiva nikaya) (PS 182). Jiva tattva is not separate from them (jiva nikaya), though distinguished from them in the sense that it is their underlying substratum. (For a detailed discussion about the distinction between separateness (prathakatva) and otherness (anyatva), see Pravachanasara 106).
Bhava and Dravya-pranas Consciousness is considered to be the essence of jiva or its essential nature or property because it is the animating principle, which enlivens a particular living organism and infuses life into the body, the senses and all other bio-energies. In its absence, all the bio-energies remain inactive and lifeless. In other words, the parinamika bhava or bhava prana (the inner, subjective, underlying spiritual reality of jiva, or the internal life source, the inalienable psychic or conscious vital force) is other than the dravya pranas (the physical, objective, external manifestations, the bio-energies, i.e. the ten pranas comprising of five senses, the bio-energies of mind, speech and body, life duration and respiration)
In its embodied from of existence, jiva is a conjoint psychophysical, conscious entity, consisting of both dravya-prana and bhavaprana. As such, dravya-prana cannot exist in isolation without bhavaprana, which cannot exist without dravya-prana in jiva's transmigratory, embodied existence. However, dravya-pranas, which are the product of the arising of nama-karman (PS 182 JS), do not exist in the liberated state. While dravya-prana is said to be unconscious material substance, the conjoint psycho-physical conscious entity of jiva nikaya cannot be said to be unconscious (achetan).
Bhava-prana, i.e. consciousness-as-such or jiva-tattva, is the underlying substratum of all classes of jiva-nikaya, which are modes or forms of jiva-tattva. Like dravya (substance) and paryaya (mode of substance), they (jiva-tattva and jiva nikaya) cannot be separated though they can be distinguished as manifester and manifested. One class of