Jain Journal 2001 07

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

Page 56

BHATTACHARYA : HARIBHADRA'S VIEWS ON SVABHĀVAVĀDA AND THE LOKĀYATA 51
The materialists consider this world to be the effect of the great elements, earth and the rest (i.e. air, fire and water) and there is no existence of the self and adrsta (merit and demerit of action).
Others (hold) that the elements are unconscious; consciousness is neither the property nor the outcome of the elements; the self is that which is endowed with consciousness (either as its property or as its outcome).
(Objection to the view :) If consciousness is the property of the elements, then it should have always been found in every element, like the being, etc. (the general property) and hardness, etc. (the special property).
(Reply :) Consciousness is there as the force of the elements which is why it is not found always; but in this form (i.e. as the force) it is there and cannot be said that it is not.
Haribhadra then proceeds to assert the existence of the self, adrsta (merit and demerit of action) and consciousness independent of matter. He tries to prove the existence of the self even by dint of sense perception. After dealing with the Buddhist views on the self and karman, he returns to the refutation of bhūtavāda:
lokāyatamatam prajñairjñeyam pāpaughakā ranam ittham tattvavilomam yat tanna jñāna-vivardhanam// 1.110 indrapratāraņāyedam cakre kila brhaspatih ado'pi yuktisünyam yannetthamindrah prataryate// 1.111 tasmad drstāsyakaram klistasattvavicintitamy pāpaśrūtam sadā dhiraivarjyam nästikadarśanam//22 1.112
This Lokāyata doctrine is to be known by the wise as the root cause of a lot of sins. It does not augment knowledge; on the contrary, it goes against truth.
22. Ibid., pp. 31-32. It is interesting to note that a Jain, who is also called
nastika by the brahminical law-givers because he does not believe in the supreme authority of the Vedas (see Manusnirti, 2.11 : nastiko vedanindakały also calls the Cārvāka philosophy 'nastikadarsanam' ! Apparently Haribhadra follows the tradition of the Sanskrit Grammarians (e.g. Bhattoji Diksita and Vāmäna-Jayāditta) who explain Aştadhyayi, 4.4.60 (asti-nasti-distam matuy in this way. According to them, one who believes in the existence of the other-world is an astika and one who does not, is a nastika. The Buddhists, too, refer to the Cārvāka-s by the same appellation, nästika. See Aryaśūra, Jatakamala (n7), 23.57, p. 151. J.Ş. Speyer translates the word, năstika as 'the materialist'. The Garland of Birthstories of Aryaśūra (1895), Delhi : MLBD, 1982, p. 215.