________________
48
Jaina view of Life
the soul is different from the body and its sense; just as Devadatta recollects an object perceived through the five windows of the palace, which is different from the palace and the five windows, so also a person recollecting an object perceived through the five senses of the body is different from the senses and the body''.
The Buddhist impermanence of the soul is also refuted. Buddhists had said that there was no self except the khandas. Kundakundācārya points out that from the noumenal point of view the soul and the body are not one, although in wordly practice the soul having a beautiful body is called beautiful and fair like the beautiful body of the living Arhat." In the Chandog yopanişad, in the dialogue between Yājñavalkya and Janaka, the idea of the self is progressively brought out by showing that it is not a physical entity nor a dream-state.
From the noumenal point of view, the soul is pure and perfect. It is pure consciousness. From the real point of view, the soul is unbound, untouched and not other than itself. The soul is one and not composite. In the Sthananga we get a description of the soul as one (ege attā). The commentator describes it as ekavidhaḥ ātmanah." Samayasāra, Kundakundācārya describes the absolute oneness of the soul “on the strength of my self-realisation”18 This does not contradict the plurality of souls in Jainism. It only emphasizes the essential identity of souls. Jivas in all their individual characteristics are essentially the same. If the souls were one, then, “O Gautama, there would not be sukha, duḥkha, bandha, mokşa, etc.” Individual souls are different like the kumbhas."
The nature of jiva has been well described by Nemicandra in his Dravyasamgraha. He describes the soul both from the
10. Ganadharavāda, 109, andSutrakstānga, 33. 11. Samayasära, 39, 42. 12. As quoted in Abhidhānarajendra, Vol. II, 'tta'. 13. Samayasara, 5. 14. Gagadharavāda, 34,
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
