Introduction to Jainism and its Culture

Author(s): Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore

Page 21

They are commonly known as physical matter. Body, speech, mind, house, furniture, car, and other such things are matter.
The soul has the power to know, think and experience but matter has no such power. Take for example an engine, a car or an aeroplane. Like man, animal or bird it moves and flies. It also consumes coal, water, diesel, or petrol. But it does not have the ability to know, think, and experience. It cannot experience pleasure or pain. It can neither think nor remember. It neither has feelings nor has passions.
These attributes are found only in soul and not in any non-living or material thing. A thing is first known through eyes, ears and other sense organs. After that it is thought if the thing is beneficial or harmful. If found harmful it is decided that it would not be used in future. Now if one comes across that thing at some future time he remembers that it is harmful. These are various stages of knowledge. This knowledge is an attribute of soul and it is not found in anything other than soul.
Soul has many other attributes besides knowledge. For example bliss is also an attribute found only in soul. A single substance can and does possess numerous attributes. For example combustion is a property of fire; besides this it has many other attributes like emission of light and consuming things. A rose flower has pink colour, softness, fragrance, and beauty. All these properties belong to just one thing. Sentience, knowledge, bliss, etc. are the attributes of soul. Attachmentaversion, libido, anger, fondness, pity, and love are the variant states of soul. States of things continue to vary but attributes always exist in things. The changing states of a soul cannot be called its inherent nature. The inherent nature of a thing includes its attributes that always exist within the thing; are ever present in some fraction at least; and none of its state is completely devoid of these attributes. The attributes like knowledge, bliss, and sentience form the inherent nature of soul. Attachment-aversion, fondness and other such feelings are variant states of soul that remain neither uniform, nor constant. There are ever changing. These cannot be called the inherent nature of soul. They lack stability, therefore, they may be called the states that excite emotions or distorted states.