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Letter 18 Charitra Attribute & Its Modifications Letter 18
April 16, 1995. Dear Reena & Mona,
Blessings & Best Wishes. I am very glad to note that you have so swiftly and easily learnt the nature of the cosmos, substances, attributes, modifications, common and special attributes etc. through these letters. Actually we have started learning the ABC of Jainism. In Marathi language we would word it as the Onama (1974) which is the short form of onamasidam. Do you know how it originated ? Actually the original phrase is Om Namah Siddham ( 3114 TA: FHS). I vow to Siddha. In the olden days when the child started with his very first lesson of writing alphabets, elders would hold his hand and help him to first write these words on the slate and then start with the first lesson of writing. Since then, whenever any new project or work is undertaken, this phrase Onama is very commonly used.
Now coming back to our subject, we have already seen the nature of common attributes. These are found in all the six substances. Therefore we know that whenever there is a mass or collection of these attributes, it is a substance. But out of the six substances which particular substance it is for sure, to find out this, it is very essential to know its special attributes. We have been discussing these special attributes in details, in last few letters.
Attribute is a power or capacity, which always exists in a substance. Its explicit manifestation at each samay i.e. present status is called modification. We know a particular attribute only through these explicit modifications. That is why we are studying the modifications of these special attributes.
After discussing the special attributes of Pudgal substance and their modifications earlier, we discussed the special attributes and their modifications of Jeev Dravya in our previous letter. And today we are going to discuss about the conduct attribute or Charitra Guna enfiar yur.
Jeev Dravya is different and distinct from other substances because of its Chaitanya that i.e the attribute of sentience. In the scripture Tattvarthasutra prarte the character of the Jeev is described as Upayogo Lakshanam उपयोगो लक्षणम्.
Upayog can generally be called as activity (though it is not a literal translation ). And here activity is the activity of knowledge or Dnyan and activity of seeing or Darshan. That is to say that while Jeev is engaged in knowing it is called as Dnyanopayog Finiture and when it is engaged in perceiving, it is called Darshanopayog atacat.
