Book Title: Reals on the Jaina Metaphysics
Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Shatnidas Khetsy Charitable Trust Mumbai

Previous | Next

Page 281
________________ 266 Reals in the faina Metaphysics the sense-organ, on the other. The contact of Manas with the soul, they urge, militates against the Naiyāyika doctrine of the atomic character of the Manas. The soul is all-pervasive according to the Naiyāyika's; if the Manas is to come in contact with it, it also becomes pervasive. You cannot say that in generating knowledge, Manas comes in contact with a part only of the soul; for in that case, the soul must be held to have parts, which is against the Nyāya theory. The contact of the Manas with a sense-organ also becomes full of difficulties, if Manas be atomic; for in that case, the sense-organ also becomes atomic. It is contended by the Nyāya school that Manas makes perceptions successive and because of its extreme swiftness, makes really successive perceptions appear as simultaneous. The Jaina's urge that if Manas is unconscious (as held by the Naiyāyika's), its movements become inexplicable. How is the unconscious Manas to determine to which parts of the body, it is to attend from moment to moment ? Every moment the periphery of the body is being affected from the outside in various ways. If Manas is unconscious, how is it to move to point A in the moment and not to the points B, C or D and in the next moment to point X and not to the points Y, Z or P? The Jaina's next attack the Nyāya position that Manas is attached to the soul from the beginningless time. They point out that if the conjunction of the soul with the Manas be so essential it would be impossible for them to be separated at any time, so that Moksa or emancipation becomes impossible. No doubt, the Jaina's admit that the soul is attached to Karma-matter from the beginningless time and that yet the emancipation of the soul from Karmacontact in the Mokșa stage is possible. But there is a difference between Karma-matter and Manas, attaching to the soul. In the case of the former, Karma, though joined with the soul, is always dropping down and being replaced by fresh Karma,---so that there is the possibility of Karma being absolutely removed without being succeeded by fresh Karma. Manas, on the contrary, is an eternal and unalterable substance, according to the Naiyāyika's, so that Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430