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

Previous | Next

Page 79
________________ 62 JAINA PSYCHOLOGY function of undecisiveness it is called mind. When it serves the function of determination it is known as intellect. When it produces the notion of 'I' it is called ego. And when it accomplishes the act of recollection it is called thought. All these functions are various modifications of the same internal organ. The organ of vision, that of audition, that of smell, that of taste, and that of touch are made up of the light and bright elements (sattva-guna) of light, ether, earth, water, and air respectively in an uncombined state. The vocal organ, the prehensive organ, the locomotive organ, the excretive organ, and the generative organ are made up of the mobile and stimulating elements (rajo-guna) of ether, air, light, water, and earth respectively in an uncombined condition. The internal organs are made up of the light and bright parts of the five material elements combined. The Rāmānujite admits of eleven sense-organs: five sensory organs, five motor organs, and the mind. He disproves the views of e Sānkhya and the Sankarite stating that the so-called internal organs are nothing but various functions of one and the same internal organ, i.e., mind.2 The Sārkarite himself admits this, so it is not an attack on the system of Sankara. The Sānkhya, of course, recognizes the mind, the intellect, and the ego as distinct internal organs, therefore, this charge may be advanced against the Sānkhya system. JAINA ACCOUNT OF SENSE-ORGANS Now, we propose to deal with the nature and functions of the senses as recognized by the Jaina. According to him, there are five sense-organs: tactual, gustatory, olfactory, visual, and auditory having for their characteristic the capacity of perceiving touch, taste, odour, colour, and sound respectively. Each of these, again, is of two kinds: physical and psychical.: The proof of the existence of senses is as follows: Cognitions of touch and the like must be conditioned by relevant instruments, since they are acts like the act of cutting. The senses are called 'indriyas' because they have been 1 Advaita-cintā-kaustubbha, pp. 62-5. 2 Tattva-muktā-kalāpa, p. 94. 3 Sparśava sagandharūpaśabdagrahanalaksanāni sparaśanarasana ghrānacakṣuḥśrotrāṇindrivāni dravyabhāvabhedāni. Pramăņa-mimāṁsā, I, 1, 21.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238