Jain Journal 1967 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 44

86
JAIN JOURNAL
Such is the process of deliberation. Though not the thinker itself, the dravya mana is indispensable for deliberation, because thinking consists in a series of nascent novements, or 'sensations', which are not possible in the absence of the brain and the central nervous organ interposed between it and the will. Hence it is that all the lower forms of life which are not endowed with the brain and the central organ of choice and control, are also devoid of reflection. Incapable of controlling their activity, they are also incapable of deliberation. Their actions are all determined by their instincts; they live in the present and are incapable of judgement and choice.
In mindless beings whose consciousness is too much vitiated by the influence of matter, conscious function never rises to the dignity of perception proper, and is confined to a feeling of sensations to which response is made in an automatic way. But the case with those who are endowed with a central mental equipment is very different. In their case we have first of all a vague detailless sense of awareness. This is called darśana (pure excitation or sensing) and is followed, if the soul so wishes, by avagraha, which means the singling out of an object with reference to its class, that is to say, the knowledge or awareness of its general properties, e.g., to know an object as a man. Then comes ihā, which signifies an attitude of enquiry. The soul now exerts itself to acquire detailed information concerning the object of perception, brings its memory to bear upon the stimulus, the nature and composition of which it proceeds to ascertain with the aid of its mental ‘reagents'. This process, which is dependent on the soul's interest in any given object, may be prolonged as long as it is desirable to continue the investigation. The important thing to know about this state (ihā) is that perception here ceases to be mechnical and becomes volitional with the soul. The formation of the percept, consisting in the appearance of the correctly determined idea in the lime-light, is the result of īhā. This is known as avaya, which is tantamount to the filling in of the detail in the general presentation or outline of an object in consciousness. The material basis here also is the mental stream, consisting of all kinds of freagents', which enable the intellect to test the properties of a sensation.
The last stage is dharanā (literally, grasping), which means retaining or constructing. By the process of isolation of individuals in the presentations are set up memory mechanisms in nervous fibres, as described before, and these tend to hold together more and more firmly with repetition. In other words, by dwelling upon a presentation or sensation repeatedly is set up a special grouping—a sort of button or keyof nerve-terminals in the region of the dravya mana, which when pres