Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): J L Jaini, F W Thomas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Page 65

METAPHYSICS: V. THE FIVE MAGNITUDES
19
in Hume's phrase, may be said to be “subversive of all speculation". Thus the soul is this life only when identified with a particular individuality. Jainism here steps in to elaborate the characteristics of this spiritual man within the man of flesh.
In every man, every living being, a demand for happiness and aversion to pain or trouble is the first universal feature of life. Jainism seizes this as the most important characteristicof soul. It seeks happiness. It seeks this, because it has it not. To science soul or life is only a mysterious something that lurks behind the marvel of matter. To Jainism and to all religions this is an incomplete account of reality : the soul is as real as matter itself. The body is rough and gross : it is fit only for the struggle with its own kin—matter. The soul is subtle and refined, not meant for struggle with matter : it is what feels pain and pleasure. The senses and the mind bear messages to it. It is the entity between which and the phenomena of life the body is the visible link. It is the something which still feels discontented when the body and even the mind have found all that they want. It is a more inner principle of life than even mind. It is that which has the instinct of peace and bliss. Despite all onr pangs and sorrows we still hope for the best. This unkillable hope is the faintest index to the eternal bliss which is an ever-present characteristic of soul. The hurry and competition of life soon tire us. This is due neither to laziness nor to love of weakness. It is only the germ of compassion which is the soul of man. It is the pursuit of peace, of undisturbable tranquillity,