Jain Journal 1972 10

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

Page 35

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JAIN JOURNAL
other school again, it acknowledges the instrumentality of the germplasm in the geneses in the offspring of the so-called inherited characters.
(8) I must now revert to the most important Substance-Jiva or the Souls. While dealing with Souls, let me touch upon the five cardinal principles (Tattvas) of Jainism:
(i) Asrava—the flow of Karma into the Soul ; (ii) Bandha---The bondage of Soul by Karma , (iii) Samvara—Stoppage of the inflow of Karma ; (iv) Nirjarā---Annihilation of the already introduced Karma ,
and (v) Mokşa—Complete subsidence of all the Karmas.
The Jainas believe in two more principles of Punya and Pāpavirtue and sin. I do not regard them as separate categories. I consider them as ancillary to Asrava-Punya leading to the inflow of good Karmas, and Pāpa leading to the inflow of bad Karmas.
Finally, under the heading of “Seven Kinds of Soul”, I may mention the Jaina philosophy of Non-absolutism or Syādvāda. Syāt in the word Syādvāda means "may be". The real sense of the compound word Syadvāda can, therefore, be said to be objective realism—viewing things under their diverse aspects by a multiple or many-sided vision. The Jaina philosophers maintain that to show the relation of a substance to its attribute, no less than seven statements are necessary. What some authors describe as the “Seven Kinds of Soul”, is nothing but the septuple formulation from which the Jiva may be viewed.