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I am the Soul
independent existence of all atmas and hence the Jain philosophy also accepts the being of an infinite multitude of atmas.
The Yoga-naiyayikas consider Ishwar to be the Creator of the Universe. The Jain tradition does not believe that any one Ishwar created this Universe, but they believe the soul itself to be the Supreme Soul. All jivas have created their own inner and outer material world. It is accepted that whatever and however the self is, whatever he suffers, whatever he has acquired, all that is due to the external manifestation of the transition of the substance of atma lying within. Therefore, the infinite number of atmas of the world have created an infinite world and all those atmas being in the form of Parmatma - supreme soul, they can be called Ishwar. This view matches with that of the naiyayikas. Moreover, the inanimate world is without beginning or end; it is not created when somebody makes it. Jain philosophy believes the world to be self-made.
The Buddhists do not accept the eternity - nityatva - of atma and consider it to be impermanent. They say that all the substances of the world are but impermanent. No substance can remain for a period longer than a moment. Every moment the substance gets destroyed and every moment created again. Thus along with all substances atma is an impermanent matter. Jain philosophy, from one viewpoint, also believes that the atma is impermanent. This is owing to its anekant concept. The atma is eternal from the view of the substance of its fundamental form but all the substances that are there are all transient. The transition due to the effect of every moment keeps happening. Besides, the transition is always momentary, hence it is decadent. What does not remain stable is transition. Since atma is a substance, transitions develop and decay in the atma too. From this viewpoint atma is impermanent. Thus from the viewpoint of transition the concept of the Buddhists is acceptable to Jain
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