Laghutattvasphota

Author(s): Amrutchandracharya, Padmanabh S Jaini, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 17

that which is simultaneously permanent and changing. It endures as a substance (dravya) but also undergoes changes at each instant as an old mode (paryāya) perishes and a new mode arises within that substance (utpāda-vyayadhrauvya-yuktam sat).26 These modes belong to the qualities (gunas) and the two together characterize a substance (gunaparyāyavad dravyam)."7 The innumerable souls (jivas), for instance, are "substances” characterized by qualities like knowledge (jñāna), bliss (sukha), etc. which undergo constant change. These qualities are homogenous (svābhāvika) in the state of mokṣa and heterogenous (vaibhāvika), i.e. defiled and obscured by karmic matter, in the state of samsāra. In the case of matter (pudgala) also, each of the infinite atoms is a substance and has qualities of touch, taste, smell and colour (sparsa, rasa, gandha, varna) which change in a similar manner. Since change is as essential a feature of the existent as is permanence, and since it is found equally in both the pure and impure states, the Jaina declares that change is not adventitious but rather innate to reality; it must therefore take place regardless of an external agency. While the Jaina does admit a causal relationship between one substance and another, he nevertheless maintains that as far as change and permanence are concerned, the causality in no way affects the autonomous nature of either the substance or the qualities.
The inviolable individuality of each substance and quality is assured by a characteristic called agurulaghutva, found in all substances and hence called a sāmānya-guņa. This is a characteristic by virtue of which one substance, while it may share a given space with others, does not assume the modes (paryāyas) of those. It also determines the fact that one quality does not, even in a defiled state, become other than itself, and the infinite qualities of a particular substance do not separate themselves from their locus, i.e that substance. Amrtacandra puts this succinctly in the following words:
sarve bhāvāḥ sahaja-niyatā 'nyonasimāna ete samśleşe 'pi svayam apatitāḥ śaśvad eva svarūpāt/ (537).
It is because of this guna that knowledge does not take the nature of the objects known and that karmic matter docs not assume the nature of the soul. The agurulaghutva, 'the state of being neither heavy nor light', is probably built into the existent (sat) in order to maintain its equilibrium in the face of the infinite modes necessitated by the very nature of reality. It preserves the exact identity of each substance and its innumerable qualities by denying any actual 'gain' (guru) or 'loss' (laghu) which might result from influence by the other members of the causal relationship.
The Jaina scriptures give a long list of assistance' (upakāra) rendered to one dravya by another. According to the Tattvärthasutra, as the souls have as their function rendering assistance to each other. The matter (pudgala)