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Jaina Logic
331
a thing, its atoms or aggregates, give rise, independently or in combination with other things, to new transformation or effect. Worldly objects persist and move here and there in the world itself in their gross or subtle form and assume varied new forms. When a lamp is extinguished, it does not mean that it is totally destroyed. Its aggregate of atoms does exist all right. The very aggregate which manifested lamp (light) undergoes transformation; as a result it is not seen as the lamp and hence we experience darkness. The material atoms, according to the Jaina thinkers, assume the form of a lamp (light), but when the oil is exhausted or there is a blast of wind the atoms abandon the form of light and assume that of darkness. Thus the atoms persist as the original matter, that which changes being only their form. Water dries up, when rays of the sun fall on it. But that does not mean that it becomes totally non-existent. The elements of water do persist always in different form. When a gross form of a thing gets destroyed, the thing assumes a subtle form or gets itself transformed into another gross form, as a result of this the thing may not be perceived in its previously perceived form. A mere change of form does not mean total cessation. Clay, for instance, may take numerous forms, such as a jar, a bowl, etc., yet clay is recognised as the identical substance persisting through all the changes or forms. The transformation is not total destruction or cessation. The original thing or substance is not produced, nor is it totally destroyed. This is an unalterable universal law.
An absolutely non-existent entity can never come into existence. And an existent entity can never pass into absolute non-existence.
It is only forms or modes that originate and get destroyed. Curd originated from milk is not a totally novel thing that has come into being. It is merely a transformation of milk. The dairy-product (gorasa) in the form of curd is produced on the destruction of the dairy-product (gorasa) in the form of milk. Both milk and curd are but forms of the dairy-product (gorasa).
In the same manner, we have to understand that original substances or elements are eternal or permanent, and they sume different forms
1. nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate satah /--Bhagavad-Gītā, II. 16 2. payovrato na dadhy atti na payo 'tti dadhivrataḥ /
agorasavrato nobhe tasmad vastu trayātmakam //60/1-Samantabhadra's Aptamimāṁsā utpannam dadhibhävena nastam dugdhatayā payah / gorasatvät sthiram jānan syādvādadvid jano 'pi kaḥ //
-Upadhyāya Yaśovijayaji's Adhyātmopanişad, I. 44
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