________________
A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA FHILOSOPHY
221
soine others make Ātman to be atomic. Some philosophic traditions have acceped the plurality of Ātman while others consider it to be one. However, all the philosophies mentioned above have accepted to primacy of the concept of the Atman in one from or the other.
NYĀYA-VAIŠEŞİKA
The Nyāya-Vaiseșika darśanas have generally a common view-point of the nature of Atman. They consider Ātman to be the ultimate and eternal substance. The Atman is not one. They believe in the plurality of the Atmans. There are as many souls as there are bodies. If the Atman were one, there would be no possibility of diversity in life.
Nyāya-Vaiseșika darśanas maintained that Ātman has consciousness. But consciousness is not the essense of the Atman, it is its attribute. The association of body, sense-organ and central function of mind give rise to cognition. This cognition is possible d consciousness. But consciousness is not the essence of the self. It is only a quality. Therefore, it can be said that the self as consciousness and not that the self is consciousness. This view of the nature of the self is different from the view of the nature of self presented by the philosophical systems like Sānkhya-Yoga and Vedānta. These systems do not accept the conception that consciousness is an attribute of the self. They consider it to be the essence of the self.In the highest state of Mokşa, according to the Nyāya-Vaiseșika, self does not have any experience nor consciousness; it is pure sattā (reality). It does not experience pure consciousness or pure bliss, because in the sa Mokşa, the accidental quality of consciousness of the soul is absent. It is qualityless, and therefore in a sense, we can say it is free from consciousness and also because consciousness is an empirical adjunct of the relational categories.
The Nyāya-Vaiseșika says that the highest state of Mokşa is
1 (a) Brhadāraṇyaka up. 5, 6, 1. (b) Chăndogya Up. 5, 18, 1,
(c) Maitrei Up. 2 Adhyātma Vicāraṇā.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
