Book Title: Samayasara
Author(s): Kundkundacharya, Jethalal S Zaveri
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 126
________________ Samayasāra Chapter - 3 Loyalty to experience and to fundamental concepts of philosophy alike makes the conclusion inevitable that absolutism must be surrendered. A real-such as a soul-is neither eternal nor non-eternal in absolute sense, but partakes of both the characteristics; and this does not mean any offense to the canons of logic. The dual nature of things is proved by a reductio ad absurdum of the opposite views. Thus the law of causation, whether in the moral or in the physical plane, is divested of its raison d'etre, if absolutism as adhered to. An absolute real (e.g. eternally and absolutely immutable puruṣa) can neither be a cause nor an effect. An effect already in existence has no necessity for a cause, and an eternal cause, unamenable to change, is self-contradictory, in as much as an eternal cause would produce an eternal effect. But both the terms 'eternal cause' and 'eternal effect' have no meaning. Hence, the truth is that the effect is both pre-existent and pre-non-existent. So far as it is a passing phase of the causal substances and so far as it is a novel emergence it is pre-non-existent. But so far it is a continuation of the causal substance, it is pre-existent. The same is true of identity and difference. The effect and the cause are identical and different both. There is no contradiction as identity quâ substance and difference quâ modes are attested by indubitable experience. The contradiction would be insuperable of both identity and difference quâ substance were insisted. But Jain philosophy of anekänta never does this. It is a pity that rival systems, instead of profiting by the wisdom of the Jain philosopher, have maligned him without trying to understand his real import. He is criticized for insisting that cause and effect are identical in the same reference and in all its implications and on the ground of advocating the identity and difference of the cause and effect both as substance. But this has never been done by the Jains and so the criticism is based on hasty and false interpretation. After this brief digression in the correct interpretation of non-absolutism of Jains, let us revert to our original subject of refutation of Sāmkhya views. In the cosmic drama, both systems recognize two primordial categories as the principal actors, viz., (i) a principle of consciousness, called the soul (jīva) by the Jains and puruşa by the Sāmkhaya and (ii) its opposite-devoid of consciousness but 1. The ancient law of anekāntavāda of Jains has been useful in modern science to explain the paradoxical dual nature of light. - 105:For Private & Personal Use Only Jain Education International www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336