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JAINA THEISM AND CONCEPT OF SOUL
Vedic origin. Bhagvadgitā talks of the unity of ātman and God. It makes a clear distinction between the self and spirit and matter or the material world. According to Bhagvadgītā, ātman is eternal, unborn, all pervasive, ancient, unman fest and unthinkable. It is identical with supreme Lord. !
Lord Mahāvīra proved the existence of soul on the ground of doubt. He argued that without a doubter who is beyond all kinds of doubt but still remains in all doubts, no doubt is possible. Doubt presupposes the existence of a doubter as its ground. That ground is soul, a self, a sentient being, and a conscious principle. If the object which one has doubt in certainly non-existent, who has a doubt as to whether I do exist or I do not exist? Oh Gautama! When you yourself are doubtful about yourself what can be free from doubt? What is directly experienced needs no other proof, such as pleasure, pain etc..
Lord Mahāvīra in Ācārānga-sūtra says, “One who knows one, knows all.“ In Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, in his last teachings, Lord Mahāvīra says, Soul is the doer and destroyer of deeds, soul is the friend and soul is the enemy."
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A body (being a statue made of physical elements, viz. earth, water, etc.) is insentient. Hence it cannot have feeling: “I am happy, I am unhappy'. If the body treated as 'a corpse' not have the light of cognition? And why is such a body not considered to be sentient being? As a matter of fact, the qualities, viz., cognition, desire, feeling, etc. are not found in the dead body. This proves that the body is not the substratum of these qualities. There should be some other qualities to reside in. This substratum is ‘soul' (ātman), whereas the body constituted of element matter, viz., earth, water,
14 Bhagvadgītā, II.18, 0-22
Ganadharavāda, 6 10 Ācārānga-sutra, 1.1.1 "Appẫkattāvikattaya, Uttarādhyayana-sutra, 20-37
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