Path of Arhat

Author(s): T U Mehta
Publisher: Sohanlal Smarak Parshwanath Shodhpitha Varanasi

Page 88

Ontology of Ātman, the Self
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very energy constitutes its 'Soul'. Thus no further proof about soul's existence is needed. But this discovery of science was not available to early seers like Mahāvīra, who therefore came to the conclusion about soul's existence by a process of metaphysical reasoning.
Ācārya Jinabhadra, a very learned and respected scholarsaint, flourished in 5th century A. D., has written the classic named Viseşávaśyaka-bhssya. It contains the dialogue, between Lord Mahavira and eleven leading Vedic Scholars on differe aspects of self and other philosophical theories, which are basic to Jainism. Indrabhūti Gautam, who subsequently become the chief disciple of Lord Mahāvīra, was a great Vedic Scholar, seeing many persons flocking to listen the first sermon of the Lord, he went to see him along with his own disciples. There the Lord himself disclosed to Indrabhuti, the nature of philosophical doubts regarding the existence or otherwise of 'soul' which afflicted him. 'Oh, Indrabhūti' ! Mahavira said, "I know that you have doubts about the existence of Jiva (soul ). You believe that the existence of Jiva ( soul ) cannot be proved by any method, as it cannot be directly perceived by any sense-organs, You further argue within yourself that even atoms cannot be seen by naked eyes, but they could be perceived as collectivities. But this cannot be said about the soul. You contend that if one wants to prove the existence of the soul by the process of inference, even that cannot solve the problem because every inference is based on some tangible experience. You say that even scriptural authority is of no use as even they are not uniform in accepting the existence of soul, and even otherwise, scriptural knowledge is nothing but inferential knowledge. According to you even the process of analogy is useless because there is no tangible thing, analogous to soul. Thus it is not possible to prove soul's existence through any of the means of Valid knowledge. So the only conclusion is that the soul does not exist.”
Having thus formulated the opposite point of view, the Lord proceeded to resolve the doubts as under :