Philosophical Writings

Author(s): Hemant Shah
Publisher: Academy of Philosophy

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Philosophical Writings
Sankhya and the Yoga philosophy. Even the Jiva in Jainism and the Atma in the Nyaya-Vaishesika are not the same. “The Jiva of the Jainas is an active and dynamic real."+ The human person as Jivatma is an embodied soul, each one having its own identity, is different from others.
The governing factor of these individual differences is “Karma." The doctrine which gives explanation of our individual characteristics; i.e. some satisfactory answer to the factors of our individuality is known as the “Doctrine of Karma." The doctrine of Karma is the law that interprets our actions and reactions found in the form of introspection as well as behavior.
In order to understand the position of freedom, obligation and rights in Jainism, and the path it suggests to attain them, what is required is to understand the process by which the soul comes into a state of bondage and unhappiness. According to Jainism there are two types of souls, “a liberated one and a worldly soul.”. A liberated soul or the soul in its pure form possesses four infinites (Ananta-catustaya). They are: infinite knowledge, infinite intuition, infinite power and infinite bliss. There is freedom for both the worldly soul as well as the liberated soul. Of course, one has limited freedom, the other has unlimited freedom. “According to the Jaina conception, Karma is an aggregate of material particles which are very fine and are imperceptible to the senses. It enters into soul and produces change in it."? Moreover, “under the sway of the allpervading law of causation, there is no room left for chance or accident."8 “The doctrine of Karma is the general moral law which governs not only the life and destiny of all individual beings, but even the order and arrangement of the physical world."? Obviously, one is likely to think that the strong and uncompromising acceptance of the doctrine of Karma in Jainism will lead to hard and mechanistic determinism, but it is not so. Jainism accepts the freedom of the soul. Soul in both states, Sansara as well as Nirvana has freedom. It is true that one has to face the effects or consequences of what one has done, but then at the same time, one is free to choose. The soul is