________________
206
SAMAYSARA
a mere spectato1 of the various changes physical and psychical which both are due to prakriti according to the Sānkhya view Though the Purusha is not responsible for any activity, he is still considered to be enjoying the fruits of the action of the praKritt Thus the Purusha is also the bhokta This Sānkhya description of the Self, that he is the knower, permanent, actionless, and enjoyer is incompatible with the Jaina conception of the Self Obviously about the time of Bhagavan Kunda Kunda, some Jaina thinkers must have had leanings towards the Sānkhya view According to these Sramanābhāsas, or the Jaina heretics, the karmic material played the part of the Sankhyan prakrito Every change and every activity was credited to the operation of karmic material, the Self remaining an active spectator This attitude is condemned by our author by showing the utter untenability of the Sānkhya doctrine If every change and every actsvity is attributed to prakrit and if the Self is merely an unchanging permanent spectator absolutely uninfluenced by the action of karmas, he must remain for ever a moksha-jiva, a liberated Self It would mean the absence of samsāra This conclusion is contradicted by actual experience, because in actual experience we have an empirical ego or samsara jiva as a fact of reality which cannot be dismissed as unreal This empirical state of existence in which sāmsāra jīva lives as a matter of fact certainly demands an explanation This explanation which is not supplied by the Sankhya view is offered by the Jaina doctrine which is put forth by our author as a corrective to the Sankhya view The karmic material is no doubt the main operative principle responsible for the physical and psychic changes produced in the being of a person When the karmic material is operative, the Self does not remain an inactive spectator according to Jaina metaphysics If the Self were so inactive, he would not be different from the Sānkhya Purusha But the successful operation of the karmic material and the consequent psycho-physical changes are due to the attitude of the Self which has a suitable responsive reaction Without •this responsive reaction on the part of the
Self, the karmic material would be impotent and will not be able to produce any change either in the body or in the consciousness
