Jaina Philosophy of Language

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 27

Chapter 1
Introduction
Self-expression: Nature of Living Beings
Each and every living being wants to express his feelings and thoughts and thus naturally wants to share with others his knowledge and experience. This innate tendency of 'mutual sharing' is well expressed in Tattvärtha-sūtra' as 'parasparopagraho jīvānām (mutual cooperation rendered by the living beings to one another is the law of life) by Jainācārya Umāsvāti (3rd-4th cent. AD). As a matter of fact this tendency of mutual sharing is the very basis of all social life. We are social because we cannot live without communicating our feelings and experiences to others and the vice versa. A prisoner with all the comforts and amenities but without opportunities to express his thoughts and feelings, will of course, find his life totally meaningless and there is all possibility that he may become insane and may commit suicide after some time. Not only the human beings, but also animals and birds cannot live without expressing themselves. In short, it is instinctive, according to the Jaina philosophy, that through the self-expression one shares one's feelings and experiences with others and the others reciprocate them with a sympathetic understanding. Now the question arises as to how the thoughts and experiences are communicated.
Language: the means of Self-expression
All the living beings of the universe express their feelings and experiences in two ways - (I) through body and (2) through sound-signals. It is on the basis of sound signals that the dialects and the languages have been developed. Man is the most fortunate of all the beings that he is. endowed with languages for the expression of his thoughts. It is a distinct characteristic of human beings that they are able to express their thoughts and feelings through word-symbols, which are really the systematised forms of meaningful sound-signals. No other living being can