Samayasara

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

Page 30

Samayasara
Introduction/Premble to Chapters I & II self, living, non-living, or mixed. Mine was all this formerly; I was all this in the past; again will this be mine and I shall again be this. The deluded one possessed all these false notions about the self. The undeluded, however, knowing the truth does not do so." (Chapter 1 verses 20 to 23).
. At the same time, Jains, again in agreement with other Indian philosophies, firmly believe in the innate ability of the soul to achieve final liberation. Thus the soul is subjected to two forces diametrically opposite to each other, from eternity. Firstly there is the centrifugal force, comprising the inherent love for truth and abstinence which have never been completely obliterated. The qualities of the soul, which comprise the centrifugal force, are crippled and enfeebled by the obscurbing, obstructing and deluding karma. For instance, pure and perfect knowledge-omniscience-is integral to the soul but it remains obscured by the knowledgeobscuring (jñānāvaraṇa) karma. Similarly, predilection for truth (samyaktva) is the innate characteristic of the soul, but it remains perverted by delusion (mithyātva). But this does not mean that there is absolute non-existence of knowledge (jñāna), love of truth, (sraddhāna) and abstention from sinful acts (virati). If that were the case, the soul would lose its soulness. If the soul were completely stripped of all these characteristics, there would be nothing left to distinguish the soul from the non-soul, which is metaphysically impossible. To continue its existence as a conscious principle, the soul must necessarily possess at least an infinitesimal fragment of the pure and perfect knowledge ever uncovered.'
Even the darkest and the densest clouds cannot completely hide the sunlight, so also the obscuring karma cannot totally cover the knowledge of the soul. Same is the case with the innate capacity of the soul for renunciation and abstinence (virati), as well as the intrinsic predilection for truth (samyaktva), remaining unobscured is also explained on the analogy of the clouds. In short, the fundamental qualities of the soul remain intact even in the most
1. savvajīvānam pi ya nam-akkharassa anamtabhāgo niccugshādio, jai puna so vi avarijjā, tenam jīvo ajīvattam pāvijjā.
sutthuvi mehasamudae, hoi pabhā camdasūrānam.
. -Namdī, 4.71