Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): Jyoti Prasad Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
directly based on sense-perception of sense-feeling as it is directly based on sense-perception of sensuous cognition, and is illustrated by the example of a sharp blade dipped in honey, which when applied to the tip of the tongue gives the pleasure of sweet taste and at the same time the pain caused by the cut. The feeling is in the subject itself, and not in the external object which seems to be instrumental in arousing it.
There is nothing really good or bad; it is the feeling that makes it so. The external object does not cause the feeling, it only conditions it, and is merely a secondary cause, an external factor, like the honey or the blade in the above example.
Even the pleasure-giving (sātā-vedanīya) or pain-giving (asātāvedaniya) karman is an external factor and is alien to the true nature of the soul which is simply the knower and perceiver, but under the influence of that karman feels pleasure or pain in a particular situation or experiences.
A spiritually perfect soul, such as an arhat-kevalin, is not so influenced, because there is no pain or pleasure in awareness. Blissfulness is a natural quality of the pure soul, and it is coexistent with consciousness, whereas in lesser beings there may be pain and consciousness of pain at the same time, but these are two different things.
Modern psychologists have also speculated on the conception of pleasure and pain, but whereas some, like Schopenhauer, hold that pain is the original and positive experience of life and pleasure is merely a negation or absence of pain, having no independent existence, others, like Hoffding, are of the opinion that both the feelings are equally real and positive.
Again, some thinkers say that pleasure and pain cannot coexist and there will only be either pain or pleasure at a time, but others hold that they can, and that a mixed feeling of pain and pleasure is possible.
The Jaina view, as explained above, holds both the feelings to be real and positive as also that the two can co-exist and