Jaina Psychology

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

Page 86

SENSORY AND MENTAL COMPREHENSION
but because her womb is so small that it does not possess the capacity of conceiving, so also the mind is called 'anindriya', since it is not of the rank of ordinary sense-organ.1 The same opinion we come across in the Tattvärtha-bhāṣya." Vidyananda argues that the mind is not a sense-organ because it is different from the senseorgans. The sense-organs prehend specific objects. One sense-organ cannot prehend the object of another. Such is not the case with the mind. It can cognise all objects of all the senses. So it cannot be regarded as a sense-organ. It may be argued, he further remarks, that the mind is an instrument of cognition and so it must be regarded as a sense-organ. But in that case smoke also would be a sense-organ, since it is an instrument of cognition, being a mark of inference. Hence, it is wrong to include the mind in the list of the sense-organs. This argument of Vidyananda can only refute the position of a psychologist who regards mind as an ordinary senseorgan. In the case of smoke the situation is quite different, since it is not an instrument of the self, being an object of cognition. A sense-organ must be an instrument of the self, since the self is the agent that cognises. Smoke is an ordinary object that can be perceived by the external senses. The mind is not like that. It is an important instrument of the self and not an ordinary object of the senses. Hence, the status of mind is not like that of an ordinary external sense-organ, nor can it be regarded as an object of the senses like smoke. It is the internal instrument that helps the self in cognising internal states like pleasure, pain, etc. Hemacandra's account regarding the status of mind seems to be quite consistent. He gives the definition of mind as follows: Mind is the organ of cognition of all objects of all the senses. All objects of all the senses, and not specifically determined such as touch is of the tactual sense, are cognised by the mind. So it is called the organ of cognition of all objects. If the definition were worded simply as 'the mind is the cognisant of all objects', then this definition would also
1 Anindriyam manaḥ antaḥkaraṇamityanarthāntaram.
Iṣadindriyamanindriyamiti. Yathā, anudarā kanyā, iti. Sarvärtha-siddhi I, 14.
2 Tattvärtha-bhäṣya, I, 14.
3 Tattvārtha-śloka-vārttika, p. 326 (sutra II, 15).
4 Sarvärthagrahanam manaḥ.
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Pramāṇa-mimāmsā, I, 1, 24.