Book Title: Jaina Psychology
Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 19
________________ JAINA PSYCHOLOGY 1. Every act must necessarily be followed by its consequence. This rule can be applied not only to a physical phenomenon but also to a psychological fact. All our dispositions, drives, instincts, impulses, motives, tendencies are governed by it. 2. If the consequences of our acts have not been fully worked out in our life-time, they necessarily demand a future life for their fruition. On this hypothesis, the doctrine of the immortality of soul is justifiable. 3. The born diversity among different individuals seeks an ex planation. The inequalities among men in worldly position and advantages and the apparent disagreement between their behaviour and their happiness or suffering call for an explanation. It is adduced as a proof of the truth of the doctrine of karma. 4. The karma-theory involves the idea of metempsychosis. The present state of existence is the consequence of the actions performed in the preceding life. The actions we perform in this life will serve as the cause of the future life. Thus, the series goes on expanding in an endless process if not checked. The history of the individual does not begin with his birth. The tiny snowdrop droops its fairy head just so much and no more. It is a snowdrop, not an oak, and just that kind of snowdrop, because it is the outcome of the karma of an endless series of past existences; and because it did not begin to be when the flower opened, or when the mother-plant first peeped above the ground, or first met the embraces of the sun, or when the bulb began to shoot beneath the soil, or at any time which you or I can fix. A great American writer says: 'It was a poetic attempt to lift this mountain of Fate, to reconcile this despotism of race with liberty, when the Hindus said. Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.'1 The theory involves the carrying over of instincts, passions, personality-characters, tendencies to another birth. It indicates that the mental faculties and physical characters of a particular 1 See Indian Buddhism, pp. 114-5.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 ... 238