________________
278
Reals in the Faina Metaphysics Soul is that it is ‘all-pervasive' and "all-informing”. As the Soul is essentially unconscious it must be supposed to permeate all things; otherwise, its connection with the things and phenomena of the world becomes impossible. If it were not all-pervading, its simultaneous connection with the atoms of all directions would not be possible; and if the Soul could not connect itself simultaneously with those atoms, Body etc. could not be formed. Hence the Soul is looked upon as all-pervading by the Naiyāyika's.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE NYAYA THEORY
It is only reasonable to think that all the philosophers would not subscribe to the Nyāya theories. Consciousness is not merely an attribute of the Soul, but it is the very nature of the Soul; in other words, the Soul in its essence is not unconscious but consists in consciousness;-well, this is the doctrine of the Sāmkhya and the Vedānta also. If the Soul is essentially unconscious, how can it know the objects? And if it is absolutely unchangeable, how can it cognise them? And lastly, if the Soul be held to be all-pervasive, one need not admit the reality of many Souls; one and the secondless Soul of the Vedānta school would be enough. For these reasons, the Jaina philosophy rejects the doctrine of the Nyāya system and maintains that the soul (1) consists in consciousness, (2) undergoes modifications and (3) is of the form of the Body.
JAINA CRITICISM OF THE NYĀYA THEORY OF THE Soul, THAT IT IS ESSENTIALLY UNCONSCIOUS
The Jaina's point out that if the Soul be essentially unconscious, knowledge would not be possible in it. The sky is unconscious, so that if it is impossible for the sky to know anything, how can knowledge be possible in the essentially unconscious Soul? The Naiyāyika's contend that although the Soul is essentially unconscious, knowledge is possible for it as consciousness is ‘intimately related to it; but the sky is absolutely unconscious and hence knowledge is never possible in it. But the question is, -The Soul and the sky
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
