Book Title: Jaina Gazette 1914
Author(s): J L Jaini, Ajitprasad
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 192
________________ 1914.] JAINA GAZETTE. 267 denying my contention that strictly a Commander is not related to the army but to the subordinates ; for an army consists of subordinates and Commander, and whatever is related to this whole must be outside it. And the question may very appropriately be asked about the positional relation of bricks in a wall-is the top row after all at the top of the Wall ? The cornice is at the top of the wall, or a picture may be there ; but the bricks ARE THE TOP PART. And on page 4 where the intimacy of the relation of whole and parts is mentioned, I think the relation here is between two views of one thing ; riz:-tbe thing regarded as a whole and the thing regarded as to its parts. And the “bond” is surely between the parts, not between the whole and the parts. It is a subtle point, and a fruitful topic. But perhaps a little irrelevant to the proof of individuals constituting A SELF. Nevertheless, if you agree not to set up a whole in relation to its parts in external relation to each other, we are at agreement. And we can get on with the next topic, about a whole being the sum of its parts. And although liere the word “ sum ” is numerical, I mean by it not merely the number of parts, but also performance by each part, or work of each part ; I meant the totality of function as well. Water is hydrogen and oxygen acting together in a certain dynamical relation ; the sum of the parts in other words ; and NOT TWO ENTITIES, (1) water ; (2) H, 0. But all such things as water, teapot, clock, army, living organisms, engipes, society, state, a work of art, a brick wall, are only temporary units or wholes ; they can be brought together and destroyed ; whereas the universe cannot. And the soul or individual is a liviog unit according to the Jain system in the sense of being a permanent spiritual whole, whose parts are inseparable, and whose factors are neither brought together nor dispersed; knowledge, feeling, and action. And a life of right knowledge, right feeling, and right action is for each individual the proper life, a life of live and let live. I fully appreciate your closing remark about the religious duty of love ; but I think our reasons why we should exercise it are very dissimilar. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat www.umaragyanbhandar.com

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332