________________
Jain Philosophy of Soul
101
and fixed as it were in the region of Aloka.""?
The Jain scriptures in general and Gasadharavāda (Lord Mahavira's last discourse with his chief disciples) in particular describes “this soul as 'traversing in this transitory world." It is called a great traveller who sails his ship (body) into the ocean (Samsăra). The life is the journey and the liberation is the destination."
As we come across systems like Cārvāka and Buddhism that does not believe in existence of soul, to us “the existence of soul will
to be considered first, as the nature of soul is not conceivable without being convinced of the existence of soul. Branch knowledge is not possible without rudimentary knowledge."10 5.1.3 Existence of Soul
"Existence of a substance or any entity is an ontological status. It is of great importance because fundamentally all the discussions about the nature, the characteristics and classification of a thing becomes tenable only and only if it exists. This ontological status called existence is proved directly by experience, e.g. we see the world and prove the existence of the world and so on. But then there are also a lot of things that exist but we cannot directly see them or touch them. The existence of such things which are not possible to be proved by the perception are proved indirectly, through Logic (through inference, comparison and testimony), through language etc. Though 'existence' as it is, is an ontological status, its proofs become an epistemological problem as we want to know whether a thing exists or does not exist. Soul or Jiva is a very 'subtle substance and its direct perception is not possible. Gautamasvāmi, one of the chief disciples of Lord Mahāvīra, when doubted the existence of soul, Lord Mahāvira proved its existence logically and was at last convinced. Let us examine some of the proofs for the existence of the soul as found in Jain Gañadharavāda.
Preliminarily the proofs include some verses from Vedās and Upanişads that talk about the self or soul. According to Chāndogyopanişad “the basic problem of ethics - removal of misery can be solved only by self-realisation."!! The BỊhadāraṇyakopanişad
7. Nahar and Ghosh : An Epitome of Jainism p. 279 8. Shrimad Vijaya Laxmansari; Philosophy of Soul, (1963). p. 1. 9. Muni Sri Arun Vijayaji : Sacitra Ganadharavada, (1984), Book-2. 10. Srimad Vijaya Laxmansari : Philosophy of Soul, (1963), p.1.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
