Perspectives in Jaina Philosophy and Culture

Author(s): Satish Jain, Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Ahimsa International

Page 46

Concept of Soul in Jaina Philosophy And its Scientific Interpretation
Dr. R M Kashiwal
In Jainism the concept of Soul or Atma is very important In fact some even call it Atma Dharma Every lving organism has a Soul or Atma and it manifests through a body The physical body is therefore only a vehicle in which Atma, the living principle which gives rise to consciousness, resides Without this life force, the body is only a dead matter From the real point of view or Nischaya Naya, every soul is pure, perfect, all-knowing, all peaceful and all-blissful It is free from passionate thought activity, defect or infirmity, desire or ambition, care or sorrow It has infinite knowledge, infinite power and infinite happiness It knows all, sees all and is not affected by praise or defamation and maintains equanimity under all circumstances Therefore by nature it is pure and perfect and is capable of attaining Godhood and becoming Parmatma
But from the practical point of view or Vyavhara Naya, the Soul or Atma appears impure because of the various thought activities like anger, pride, deceit and greed and other passionate thought activities which taint the Atma just as the particles of dust or dirt may make a piece of white cloth appear dirty These thought activities and other similar activities produce Karmic matter or molecules and these get attached to the Atma (Soul) which is an unbroken whole substance, non-material in nature
Therefore, although basically every soul which is immortal and non-perishable, is pure and perfect but because of its association with Karmic matter it remains impure and does not attain Godhood and according to the Karmic actions of the individual it goes on through the cycles of deaths and births and so on, till such time that the Atma is able to get rid of the Karmic bondage by various processes and procedures and is able to reach the pure and perfect state, when it gets liberated and attains Moksha According to Jaina philosophy this is possible in every human being by his own individual efforts Therefore, in a nutshell the the whole of the Jaina religion inspires to attain liberation or Moksha by knowing the true nature of one's soul This is the main goal Rites and rituals, vows and