Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

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THE INDISPENSABLE ASSOCIATES OF ÇARITRA
consciousness of one's activities and efforts for attaining an object of desire is predominant while the second mode of Çētanā, the Karma-phala-çetanā is characterised by a feeling of pleasure or pain which arises from one's coming in contact with the object of his like or dislike. In the Jñāna-çetanā there is neither of the two preceeding modes of consciousness; the Jñāna-çetanā is a pure consciousness of itself as it is in itself, uncontaminated by any sense of energising towards an object or by any feeling arising from the appropriation or non-appropriation of that object. The Jñāna-çetanā is thus selfconsciousness pure, simple and above all, immediate; and most of the Jaina thinkers identify Samyaktva with Jñāna-çetanā in as much as the Samyaktva is spontaneous faith which is not mixed up with any form of psychical activity or pleasurable or painful feelings or extraneous consideration. The Samyaktva is thus a form of immediate apprehension.
Some thinkers, however, point out that while the pure Jñānaçetanā alone is applicable to the Vitarāga-Samyaktva, in the SarāgaSamyaktva, the two forms of the Karma-çetanā and the Karmaphala-çetană are present. The very expression, Sarāga, implies that the believer, having the Sarāga-Samyaktva has the Rāga or the feeling of attachment and as such, has the consciousness of his activities applied towards the attainment of desirable objects as well as a feeling of pleasure, arising from the attainment thereof. It is urged against this view that the Rāga affects the nature of one's conduct only; it has nothing to do with the nature of one's faith; so that it is always possible for one to have perfect faith or Jñānaçetanā, while his conduct may be vitiated by the feelings of attachment or envy. This is one view regarding a person having the Sarāga-Samyaktva and the possibility of his having Jñāna-çetanā. But the real reply to the objection concerning the Sarāga-Samyaktva and the Jñāna-çetanā going together is that Samyaktva and Rāga cannot really go together. A man having Rāga or a feeling of attachment for worldly objects cannot have Samyaktva developed in him. In Sarāga-Samyaktva, the believer is not really Sarāga; all that is meant is that he moves in the world, the sphere of Rāga, without any real Rāga attaching to his nature. Although living and moving as a Sarāga being, the man is really 'Nīrāga'; the passions of Räga do not enter into his nature and the Samyaktva which is devoid of all Rāga, is evolved in him. Thus, in the cases of SarāgaSamyaktva also, the faith is immediate, 'Nirvikalpa' (undetermined), 'Śūkşma' (subtle), "Vācāmagoçaram' (incapable of being expressed in words), and "Svānubhūti-rūpa' (consisting in pure in
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