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THE JAINA GAZETTE
Vol. XXV ) MADRAS:
WHOLE Nos. 4,5 & 6 ) APRIL, MAY & JUNE, 1929. (Nos. 286, 287 & 288 THE JAINA DOCTRINE OF SOUL
BY Harisatya Bhattacharyya, M.A., B.L. W HAT is other than Matter, Space etc., in the universe is
called Jiva or Soul by the Jaina philosophers. Roughly speaking,--what is ‘Purusha' in the Sankhya and the Yoga systems of philosophy, ‘Alma' in the Nyaya, the Vaiseshika and the Vedanta thoughts, is Jiva in the Jaina philosophy. Yet there is difference between the Purusha of the Sankhya and the Yoga and the Jioa of the Jaina; the Atma of the Nyaya and the Vaiseshika philosophy is not quite the same as the Jida of the Jaina philosophy; the Alma of the Vedanta, again, is different from the Jiva of the Jaina system. The Jainas repudiate the Soul-denying position (Niralma-vada) of the Charvakas and criticise the Buddhist theory of the Conscious Series (Vijnanaoada, Santana-Dada) as well. What, then, are the characteristics of the Jioa, according to the Jainas? Sri Nemichandra Siddhanta Chakravarti says :
“ Jiva is existent; is conscious; has cognition; is formless ; is a doer; is of the same extent as its body; is an enjoyer; migrates (in its state of Bondage) in the Samsara or the series of existences; is free (in its essence): and has an upward motion." 2. Dravya-samgraha.
Vadi-deva, a thinker of the Svetambara sect of the Jainas says,
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Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
