Samayasara

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

Page 43

Chapter - 1
Samayasaru Criterion of the Self णवि होदि अप्पमत्तो ण पमत्तो जाणगो दु जो भावो।
एवं भणंति सुद्धं णादा जो सो दु सो चेव॥६॥ navi hodi appamatto na pamatto jāņago du jo bhāvo.
evam bhanamti suddham ņādā jo so du so ceva.. 6
(Jo du jāņago bhāvo) The attribute of consciousness (navi hodi) is neither (appumatto) virtuous (na) nor (pamatto) vicious (evam) and so (bhanamti suddham) is said to be pure (ca) similarly (jo nādā) the Knower i.e., the subject of consciousness (so eva) is also pure (when it knows itself). Annotations :
The formalities having been completed, Ācārya Kundakunda proceeds to deal with the subject proper, viz., the character of the self.
Few problems have more constantly attracted the attention of philosophers especially Jain philosophers than that of the relation between the Self and the non-self or the soul and the body; and perhaps no problem has given rise to graver misconceptions for want of correct insight into the true character of the Self.
Neither by the unphilosophic speculations of ordinary persons nor by the intensively philosophical theories of scholars, could the problem of the dualistic separtation of a living organism into a 'body' and a 'soul', be unambiguously determined. In our direct immediate experience a human being is neither a body nor a soul nor yet a composite of the two but simply an individual-a possessor of the capability of knowing, experiencing and intercommunicating with other individuals. In actual worldly life the severance of the original unity of our experience into a physical and a psychical aspect is not only unnecessary but also unempirical. But transcendentally, the two aspects must be separated by ascertaining their respective characters.
For the process of severance, first thing is to fix a criterion by which the distinction between the self and non-self can be made. This criterion must be, besides being infallible, a characteristic belonging to the SELF and to nothing else. Thus the criterion must
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