Essence of Jainism

Author(s): Sukhlal Sanghavi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 94

Essence of Jainism
with the help of the offort of soine Puruşa, are not concealed in the gross causes like oil in the sesamum. When a carpenter collects several pieces of wood and shapes these into a horse, the horse is flot concealed in the pieces as is oil in sesamum. The horse is there in form of an imagination in the intellect of the carpenter, and it takes a concrete form through the pieces of wood. If the carpenter had so desired, he could have shaped a cow, cart or any other thing instead of the horse. Extracting oil from sesamum is a totally different matter. Howsoever expert one may be, he cannot extract ghee or butter from sesamum. In this way, the relcvaot fourth stream of thought is atomic and still it was allied to Prakrtivāda in the matter of believing in result and revelation, and on the other side it was allied to the second atomic theory in matter of action and creation.
This is the belief of the fourth stream of thought with regard to the external universe; in matter of Atmatattva, its beliet' wastotally different from the other three streams of thought. Here view was that Ātmā is different with every body, but from the point of view of place all these Ātmās are neither expansive nor steady. The view further opined that just as the external universe is subject to change, all the Ātmās are constantly changing because they are resultant. The Ātratattva is subject to compression and expansion and is therefore of the size of the body.
This fourth stroam of thought is the ancient source of Jain philosophy. The stream of thought continued since long before Bhagavan Mabāvīra. It continued to develop and get steadied in its own way. The clear, developed and steady form of this fourth stream that we have to-day, is mostly indebted to the thinkiog of Lord Mabāvira. Jainism is divided into two sects-Svetambara apd Digambara. Though the literature of both is different, the philo. sophy of Jainism is more or less the same. Here one thing is particularly notable. The Vedic and the Buddhist cults are divided into so many small and big paths. Some of these hold mutually contradictory views. Their peculiarity is. that all the Vedic and Buddhist paths hold differing views regard. ing conduct and ethics as also in the matter of philosophical