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JAIN: THE CONCEPT OF PARYAYA AND JAINA WAY OF LIFE
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magnificence and glory of the essentially sell-luminous reality, i.e. the soul, is not actualised or present in the person having impure dispositions. In other words, the self is not established in one's own self, i.e. svabhāva. A person who is ignorant of the true nature of self, i.e. svabhāva, because of his erroneous identification with the alien nature, develops impure dispositions. He is always prone to mental tensions, which are the result of his passions, desires, likes and dislikes, attachment and aversion. Such a person lacks discriminative insight or enlightened view (samyag darśana) and, as Acārya Samantabhadra states, is never at peace and always miserable due to "bhaya-kamavasyo". 22 In other words, he is enmeshed in two contradictory thought processes, sear and desire or lust-sear of death and desire of seeking his welfare by sense gratification. He is unnecessarily afraid of death, when there is no escaping from it, while he endlessly and mistakenly strives to seek his welfare in enslaving desires, sensual pleasures and passions, etc.23 Awareness of the transitory character of the passions and attachments, etc. leads to non-clinging to the objects of transitory character and impels us to practice equanimity, self-control, etc., to realize the goal of peace, happiness, freedom and self-realization.
How the paryāya (change or modifications) in the material objects affects the bhava or the attitudes of persons because of their intense attachment to them is aptly described by Ācārya Samantabhadra in these words: “Persons desirous of a pot, a crown and gold become sad, happy and indifferent at the destruction (of the pot) origination (of the crown) and persistence (of gold) on account of their causes."24 The psychological states of sadness and happiness and indifference though generated in the self have their causes in the external world. These states are caused by the self-same process of origination, destruction and permanence
Reflection on the concept of paryāya or the transitoriness of things is an important factor in the Jaina scheme of things. Accordingly, anitya (transitoriness) is considered to be the foremost of the twelve contemplations which are prescribed for Jains as a desirable religious practice. Anitya means transient, ever changing, transitory,
22. Samantabhadra, The Path to Enlightenment : Svayambhu Stora, tr. by
D.K. Goyal (New Delhi : Radiant Publishers, 2000), verse 34. 23. Foreword by Jagdish Prasad Jain "Sadhak" in ibid., p. xvi. The Foreword
also contains detailed consideration of Svayambhu, Upanishadic
Brahman and Jaina Paramātman. 24. Samantabhadra, Aptamimāmsā, verse 59.
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