Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism

Author(s): S C Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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20 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
because the identity of things by contradicting itself will destroy itself. Moreover, if to negate a positive entity a negative entity is needed then to negate the latter one another entity will be required; and the series has to be continued infinitely. The position is made still worse by the fact that we are required to negate not only the infinite positive elements in a real by means of the negative ones, but each one of the negative elements stands in need of being negated by other elements. Such a process can never come to an end. From this it follows that in an identical substance no attributes or powers can oppose any of the other attributes or powers and the negative function must be due to the positive attributes themselves. Generally speaking no entity can include in its structure elements which oppose each other. P.T. Raju has correctly observed: "If negation is an existential category; it must be the function of something which exists. This something must be negative. This negative something performs its function by negating or repelling. But this function is also found in the positive. So there is no need of postulating a negative in order to assign the function of negating to it”. What the critic means is that the negative function is also due to the positive elements in reality. The positive and the negative functions are determined by the self-same entity. There is no distinct attribute of negation to which the function of repelling may be assigned. The self-same entity is capable to establish itself and, at the same time, to negate entities other than itself. This leads to the conclusion that the truth of negation cannot be accepted at the level of attributes or powers.
Negation as a Dharma or a Trait
The facts of positive and negative cannot be denied, they are facts of our experience and require proper explanation. “To call the differences of the phenomenal
1. M.C. Jain: Tattvärtha Cintāmaņi, vol: II, p. 293 2. P.T. Raju: Thought and Reality, p. 98