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MIND IN JAINISM
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The ancient Indian philosophers were faced with problems concerning the instrumental nature of the mind. It was generally believed that, like other sense organs, mind was also a sense organ, and the instrument of the soul. In the Upanişads we find references to the mind as one of the organs along with the other sense and motor organs, (jñānendriyas and karmendriyas).53 Praśna Upanişad mentions manas as a central organ. Reference to the manas as the driver of the ten organs in the Maitri Upanişad may also be noted. Orthodox Hindu philosophy accepts mind as the internal organ. There were some philosophers who made buddhi, ahamkāra, and manas together to constitute the internal organ antahkarana. But Jayanta believes that mind is an internal organ. Similarly, Vidyānandi maintains that buddhi and ahamkāra cannot be regarded as sense organs. The Nyāya Vaišeşikā philosophers regarded mind as the internal organ. But Gautama did not include it in the list of the sense organs; Kanāda is also silent. Vātsyāyana includes manas under the senses. He calls it the inner sense by which we apprehend the inner states of feelings, desires and cognitions. The self perceives the inner states by the instrument of the manas. Vātsyāyana believes that mind is as good a sense organ as the eye and the like, though there are certain differences. But the Jainas believed that the mind is a no-indriya in the sense that it is different from the five sense organs. Its sense contents and functions are not entirely identical with those of indriyas. The prefix No here does not mean not, but is at times rendered as īsad. It is a quasi-sense organ. Still they accept the instrumental function of the mind. In the Gommatasāra: Jivakānda, we get a description of mind as the no-indriya. It is through the mind that mental knowledge and mental activity arise. But in the case of the mind there is no external manifestation as in the case of the other sense organs. The function of mind is assimilative.54 Pramānamīmāṁsā describes mind as the thing which grasps everything. In the vrtti of the same it is said, "manonindriyamiti no indriyamiti ca ucyate."55 In the Tattvārthasutra, the function of mind, which is anindriya, is described as the śruta cognition. The second function is the mati and its modifications.56 It is called the organ of apprehension of all objects because all sense experiences are apprehended by the mind. The Jainas accepted the instrumental nature (karaṇatva) of the mind. But it is said that the karana is of two types_bāhya karana and antahkarana, and even the dravyamanas is described as the antahkarana,
53 Deussen: Philosophy of the Upanişad, 58, Maitri Upanişad, 2–6. 54 Gommatasära 444. No indiyatti sanna tassa have sesaindiyānar va vattattabhāvādo. 55 Pramānam mūmece 24 and Vịtti. 56 Tattvārthasūtra II. 21 and Pramāṇamīmaisā vrtti-Srutamitihivişayina viņayasya
nirdesah.
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