Jain Journal 1982 07

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

Page 11

JAIN JOURNAL
beings and they are separate and independent. Thus from the very beginning Jainism believed in Pluralism.
The chief attribute of the soul is said to be knowledge (vijñāna). The soul is the knower and the knower is the soul (je ātā se vinnātā je vinnātā se ātā). The technical term used in the Tattvārtha-sūtra to denote the chief attribute of the soul is ‘upayoga' which stands for intuition (darsana) and knowledge (jñāna) simultaneously. The Sūtrakytānga further adds that the soul is the doer (kartā) as well as the enjoyer (bhoktā).
In the Acārānga the soul is said to be formless and in the Sutrakıtanga different from the material body. Again in the Acārārga it is said to be neither big nor small (se na dihe na hasse) and thereby the Sutra conveys that the soul is all pervading but in later Agamic works it is ac cepted as having the size of the body it occupies. For example in the Bhagayatı-satra and the Uttarādhyayana it is said to be equal in size to the extension of its body and explained to be even equal to the size of the universe, that it attains by the process of samudghāta'.
Foundations of the systematic ethical classification into seven (saptapadārtha) and nine (nava-tattva) categories can be seen only in the second part of the Sūtrakstānga. In the Acārānga we do not find all of them referred to at one place. Out of the nine the 'citta, acitta, aśrava, punya, pāpa, bandha, nirjarā and mokşa' find mention at one or the other place in one or the other way but the 'saṁvara' (prevention of the influx of karmas) is not referred to.
Technical terms like 'avadhi, manah-paryāya and kevala' denoting different kinds of knowledge are found in the second parts of both the Arga-books, whereas the words used in their older portions are śruta, mata and vijñāna' (the knowledge of the sight, the ear, the mind and the higher knowledge). The final categorisation into the five kinds of knowledge (mati, fruta, avadhi, manah-paryāya and kevala) is found in later Agamic works.
The theme of karmaväda (fruits according to one's own deeds) and punarjanma (transmigration) is found in the Acārääga. It specifically states that some do not know wherefrom they have come, from the east or ....... Is my soul taking rebirth ?...... Who am I ? And from here where shall I be born again. (ihamegesim no sannā bhavati, tam jahā puratthimão vā dišao āgao ahamaṁsi ......, atthi me āyā uvavāie ....... ke aham asi ke vă io cuo iha peccā bhavissami). It is further said in the same book