________________
418
A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
outside these elements. Those philosophers who advocate the theory of atman are doing nothing, but expressing the materialistic approach of the ātman in the sense that the ātman is the product of the elements. There is no ātman which is different from this element. There is nothing like a spiritual substance, the body is found due to the combination of the elements and when the body is destroyed the elements are separated and there is no trace of the ātman at all.
Just as the assembly of small parts of a machine, make a machine running in order. So also the organism disintegrates if the limbs are destroyed. Similarly, by mixing beatle nut, beatle leaves and lime we get red colour. So also the combination of different forms of the four element gives rise to consciousness. Consciousness is a by-product of the metabolic changes in the organism, if the body is destroyed, consciousness is also destroyed. In the Sütrak stānga, there is the mention of tatjīva-latsariravāda and pañcabhūtavāda. It has been suggested that body and mind are not separated. This theory is also called anātmavāda or năstikavāda, because it denies the consciousness of mind or God. The theroy of pañcabhūtavāda says that jiva is the product of the combination of the five bhūtas (elements) prthvi (earth), jala (water), agni (fire), vāyu (air) and ākāga (space), There is a difference between tatjīva and tatsarīravāda and pañcabhūtavāda in that the former maintains that the soul and body are identical while the later maintains that soul and consciousess are products of the combination of the five bhūtas. When the body is destroyed, the soul is also destroyed.
According to the theory of elements, whatever is amenable to sense is alone real. Whatever is not verifiable to sense-experience, is not real. In this sense, the other world, heaven and hell, the soul and god are unreal. Pratyaksa is the only pramāna. The functionac utility is the only criterion or activity of reality. It is in this sens! materialistic and pragmatic in its approach. The Darwinian theory of evolution is an expression of this Bhautikavāda. It advocates the possibility of the development of the mind through the evolution from
1
Sarva Darsana Sangraha, parichheda 1
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
