Mahavira and his Teaching

Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

Page 244

CONSIDERATION OF SELF IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY 237 and organic states are the modifications of matter. The self is the substantial cause of psychical states, and matter is the substantial cause of organic states. And yet psychical states and organic states are external causes of each other. One psychical state is produced by an immediately preceding psychical state, and determined externally by an organic state, In like manner, one organic state is determined by immediately preceding organic state and yet conditioned externally by a psychic state.
Parallelism as well as interactionism have both been accepted as adequate theories for accounting the nature of physical and mental series in human and other living personality. The mental series and the physical series are independent of, and parallel to each other and, yet they are determined externally by each other. The Jaina emphasizes the causal interrelation between self and body, even though the relation between them is external; so that a change in one always involves a physical antecedent one being the substantial cause and the other being the external cause. The self is the substantial or constituent cause of an emotion, while karma-matter is its external or indirect cause.2 A change in dravya karma or physical karma immediately produces a change in bhāva karma or consciousness. Dravya karma is objective physical karma. Bhava karma is its subjective counterpart in consciousness. It produces an er (bhāva) in citta. An emotion is the effect of kārmic thought which is the effect of kārmic matter. The direct and immediate cause of an emotion is bhāva karma or kārmic thought. But its indirect or external cause is dravya karma or kārmic matter. There is psycho-physical parallelism between mental states and organic states which are two independent series. And yet mental states are the indirect and external causes of organic states, and organic states are the indirect and external causes of mental states. The two series, though independent of, and parallel to, each other, are causally interrelated to each other. 1. Pañcāstıkā ya (Kundkunda Svāmı), 59 (P), Bombay, samvat 1972, Op.
cit, p20 Pañcâstika ya, p65