Soul Science Part 01

Author(s): Parasmal Agrawal
Publisher: Kundakunda Gyanpith

Page 49

Soul Science : Samayasāra by Jain Ācārya Kundakunda
A house may have a bed-room, a kitchen, a living room, a store room etc. On the basis of such common experience, one may think that a soul also may have its different attributes as
ts parts at its different or all locations (Pradeśa) of the soul. To avoid this misconception, here Ācārya Kundakunda categorically wants to convey that one should experience the soul as a single and pure identity, and not as a mixture.
Question: What is harm in considering the soul as a mixture of
many attributes?
Answer: (1) It is not right to consider the soul as a combination
of many attributes. Different attributes such as conduct, belief, knowledge, etc., are not like jewels, and the soul is not like an ornament made by their combination. (2) Such a jewelornament-model of the soul would hinder the realization of a single and a whole soul in the deep meditative state. (3) Different attributes of the soul can never be separated. Regarding a white crystal of sugar, one cannot say that its sweetness (taste) and whiteness (color) exist separately.
Question: The Ācārya has already mentioned in the previous
stanza (Gāthā 6) that the soul is pure. What was the necessity
of saying it again in this stanza that the soul is pure? Answer: Ācārya Kundakunda wants to explain the concept of
the pure soul in this treatise from all possible angles. In stanza 6, the perspective was that the soul always remains unattached with others; therefore, the soul neither becomes less pure nor more pure. In other words, in Gāthā 6, it has been shown that the knower is not a mixture of the soul and the changing associates. A mixture cannot be pure. Therefore, here Ācārya further explains that the soul is not a mixture of its internal attributes (conduct, belief, knowledge, etc.)
Question: According to this Gāthā, the relative point of view
(Vyavahāra Naya) gives a description that contradicts the reality described by the real point of view (Niścaya Naya). From the relative point of view, a soul has attributes such as conduct, belief and knowledge, but from the real point of view the soul is not a mixture of such attributes. In view of this