Some Problems in Jaina Psychology

Author(s): T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Karnatak University Dharwar

Page 20

THE JAINA THEORY OF THE SOUL
in the pure form. The phenomenal describes the empirical qualities of the soul. From the pure point of view, it is not associated with body or any physical or mental qualities. Mahāvīra points out to the third Ganadhara that the soul is different from the body and its senses; just as Devadatta recollects an object perceived through the five windows of the palace, which is different from the palace and the five windows, so also a person recollecting an object perceived through the five senses of the body is different from the senses and the body.7
The Buddhist impermanence of the soul is also refuted. Buddhists had said that there was no self except the khandas. Kundakundācārya points out that from the noumenal point of view the soul and the body are not one, although in worldly practice the soul having a beautiful body is called beautiful and fair like the beautiful body of the living arhat. In the Chāndog yopanişad, in the dialogue between Yājñyavalkya and Janaka, the idea of the self is progressively brought out by showing that it is not physical nor a dream-state.
From the noumenal point of view, the soul is pure and. perfect. It is pure consciousness. From the real point of view, the soul is unbound, untouched and not other than itself. The soul is one and not composite. In the Sthānānga we get a description of the soul as one (ege attā). The commentator describes it as ekavidhah ātmanah.9 In Samayasāra, Kundakundācārya describes the absolute oneness of the soul "on the strength of my self-realization."10 This does not mean that the self is one in the Vedāntic sense of cosmic self. It does not contradict the plurality of souls in Jainism. It only emphasizes the essential identity of souls. Jīvas in all their individual characteristics are essentially the same. If the soul were one, then, "O Gautama! there would not be sukha, duhkha, bandha, moksa etc.” Individual souls are different like the kumbhas.11
The nature of jīva has been well described by Nemicandra in his Dravyasargraha. He describes the soul both from the noumenal and phenomenal points of view. He says that jīva is characterised by upayoga, is formless and is an agent. It has the same extent as its body. It is the enjoyer of the fruits of karma. It exists in saṁsāra. It is siddha and has a characteristic of upward motion.12 We get a similar description in the Pañcāstikāyasāra of Kundakundācārya. Jīva is formless. It is characterised by upayoga. It is attached to karma. It is the Lord, the agent and the enjoyer of the fruits of karma. It pervades
7 Ganadharavāda, 109, and Sütrakrtānga. 33. 8 Samayasāra, 39, 42. 9 As quoted in Abhidhānarājendra, Vol. II 'Attā'. 10 Samayasāra, 5. 11 Ganadharavāda, 34. 12 Dravyasargraha, 2,