Parmatma Prakash

Author(s): Yogindra Acharya
Publisher: Central Jaina Publishing House

Page 34

56—59]
PARMATMA-PRAKASH.
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56. None created the Atman, nor does the Atman create anything ; with reference to his Svâbhâva (nature) he is Nitya (eternal), but with reference to his Paryâya (condition or form) he is born and dieg.
Note. In this Gâthâ, the Acharya explains whether the Atman is Nitya or Anitya. According
to Jainism the Atman is both Nitya as well as Anitya. With reference to his Svâbhâva (essence or nature) the Âtman is Nitya (constant and eternal), but with reference to his Paryâya, he is Anitya (inconstant and perishable). From eternity, the Atman is, owing to the contact of matter, forgetful of his own Svâblava and is indulging in Râga (attraction) and Dvesha (repulsion), or good and bad thoughts, which become the cause of the formation of Karmas, under whose influence he roams about in this Samsåra assuming different forms and shapes. When he leaves one body and takes another, he in reality does not die ; what perishes is his previous form alone. Conditions always change, but the substance remains ever the same. The Atman passes through Narka (hell), Tiryancha (mineral, vegetable and animal kingdom), and is born sometimes as a man, and sometimes as a deva. IIis various forms and bodies are destroyed but what constitutes his Svâbhâya which is consciousness or intelligence, is never annihilated. Thus from the point of view of Dravya (essence or being) the Ātman is eternal and everlasting, and from the point of view of Paryâya, he is subject to birth and death. According to Vyavahara he is the maker of his Karmas, but from the Nischaya point of view, that is, so far as his Svâbhâva or real nature is concerned, he is only a Jnata and Drishta (kpower and seer).
57. Know that to be Dravya which possesses Gunas (attributes) and Paryâyas (conditions): that which is Svâbhâvi, that is, remains ever with the substance is Guna, and that which is Kramvarti (changing in succession) is called Paryâya.
58. Know the Âtman as a Dravya, with Darshana (seeing) and Jñana (knowing) as his Gunas (attributes) and the Chaturgati Paribrahmâna (transmigratory changes into the four grades of creation) as his Vibhâva Paryâyas (conditions caused by the Karmas).
59. Both the Jiva and Karma are eternal ; neither creates the other; both are existing from eternity.
Note.--In this Gâtha, the Acharya protests against the doctrine of those Ekanta-Vading, who
hold that the Atman is An adi-Mukta (liberated from eternity). If the Atman is Anadi. Mukta, why should we strive after Mukti (emancipation or liberation)? If it be said that the Atman was Anadi-Mukta, but at some particular time he became in bondage with Karma and entered into the worldly condition, then what was that new cause which brought about the bondage of Karma at that particular time? Again, what kind of a Mukti ffreedom) is it which does not secure freedom from even the bondage of Karmas? Such are the questions which arise in this theory and which cannot