Outlines of Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Jain Mission Society Bangalore

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OUTLINES OF JAINA PHILOSOPHY
of atman, or for the matter of that, in absolute changelessness of anything whatsoever. He further points out that for some time after a body is cut, its parts continue to throb and retain the atman in them. After that, they rejoin the atman of the body from which they are cut. The particles which are cut retain their connection with the soul as the threads of a lotus-stick remain united even when the stick is cut into two.
It should be noted that Jainism is the only school of Indian philosophy that holds that atman is body-sized. The only other school which holds an analogous, though not the same doctrine, is the school of Rāmānuja, according to which, the jñāna of atman, though not the atman itself, undergoes contraction and expansion.
VARIETIES OF SOULS
Jainism believes that each body possesses a different soul, and hence, there are many souls. It is also held that one body can be occupied by more than one soul but one soul cannot occupy more than one body.
Here a Vedantin may say that many varieties of the soul are unwarranted, for the soul is everywhere the same. Like the sky, it is all-pervasive. On account of illusion, we think that there are different souls in different bodies. Really speaking, it is one.
This view is refuted as follows: As regards the sky, it is all right to hold that it is only one, for the sky, even while permeating all the corporeal bodies, is seen to be uniform-free from any distinctions. Such is not, however, the case with the soul in question. It is not observed to be uniform, for it differs from body to body (pinda to pinda). Moreover, the difference in characteristics presupposes the difference in those having the characteristics. Hence, the soul is not one in number.1
Here is the illustration: The living beings in this world differ from one another, for there is a difference in their characteristics. As a parallel example, we may mention water pots, etc. Whatever is not different from another object does not differ in characteristics from it. As for example, the sky is everywhere Moreover, if there were only one soul, then there would be nothing like happiness, misery, bondage, and emancipation.
the same.
Viseṣāvasyaka-bhāṣya, 1581.
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