Jain Journal 1983 04

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

Page 16

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JAIN JOURNAL
ultimately one and the same. The root cause of the difference between them is ajñāna (ignorance). The limiting conditions of the Self are called upādhis. It is upādhi which is responsible for clouding the true nature of Reality. Kundakunda compares the ultimate Reality with Sun which shines in all its brilliance and he compares the individual self with a Sun which is hidden with a dense layer of clouds which hides the sunshine. When clouds hiding the sunshine get completely dispersed, the Sun again begins to shine in all its glory. In the same way when kārmic-upādhis (kasāyas) are destroyed, the supreme Self shines with its pristine purity and glory. Besides all this, both Sankara and Kundakunda use the term 'Advaita' to show the ultimate oneness of Jivātman and Paramātman. It also proves that this doctrine is common to both-Jaina metaphysics and the Upanisadic thought from where Sankara has derived his philosophy.
Kundakunda and Sankara, both maintain that cause and effect are, ultimately, identical in nature. The material cause or upādāna kāraņa must be identical with its effects in nature. Kundakunda asserts that the effect is identical with the cause and yet it is slightly different from it. Explaining it he holds that from the point of view of underlying substance the effect and cause are identical but from the point of view of manifested form and change the effect is different from the cause. So, cause and effect may be said to be identical in one sense and different in other.
Both, Kundakunda and Sankara hold that it is our wrong belief to speak of the Self as body or material object because the Self is a cetana (conscious) entity whereas body is an acetana (unconscious) entity. Besides this they differ on the issue of the existence and reality of the body or material object. On the one hand, for Sankara, it is not only an error to confuse the Self with the body but ultimately, the body itself becomes mithyā or illusion. On the other hand, for Kundakunda, it is only the false identification of self with the body, the acetana (unconscious) entity, that is mithyā (illusion). The body or worldly objects themselves are not mithyā or illusion. According to Jaina metaphysics the substance of the external world is as existent and permanent as the conscious Self. Things have creation and dissolution only because of their modes. Sankara's Advaitism, according to. Jaina thinkers, is suffering from the fallacy of ekāntavāda or the doctrine of oneness of Reality because he takes the change as ureal and accepts only Brahman Kundakunda, Samayasara; with English translation and commentary based upon
Amrtacandra's Atmakhyati, Introduction, page clii. 3Sharma, C.D., A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy, p. 67.