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III. IV)
AVIDYA IN THE NYAYA SCHOOL
IOI
absolute and eternal.'! The kaivalya or emancipation of the self is rather a rediscovery of its own nature, and not the acquisition of unprecedented condition or the relinquishment of a real limitation.
Let us now turn to the Nyāya conception of avidyā.
IV
AVIDYĀ IN THE NYAYA SCHOOL
This school does not believe in blind teleology of the SänkhyaYoga. The soul itself is responsible for its bondage. Although it is as ubiquitous and eternal as the soul of the Sānkhya-Yoga, it possesses the non-eternal qualities of consciousness, desire etc. much in the same way as the material substance possesses colour, taste, smell, etc. The Nyāyasūtra enumerates the following as the specific qualities of the soul: desire, aversion, effort, pleasure, pain and knowledge. Besides these, the qualities of dharma (merit) and adharma (demerit), jointly designated as samskära (trace), are also recognized as the uncommon characteristics of the soul. These two accrue respectively from the morally good and bad actions of the organ of speech, mind and body.
They inhere in the soul and condition the creation of a new body in the next birth out of the material elements. In addition to these, there are a number of defects (dosas) that are classified into three groups viz. rāga (attachment), dveşa (aversion) and moha (delusion). Of these three, moha (delusion) is the most debasing, inasmuch as it is the root of the other two.5 Moha is mithyājñāna (wrong assessment of values). Vätsyāyana says: "The pleasant thoughts of objects cause rāga (attachment) and the painful thoughts of objects cause dveșa (aversion). Both these thoughts, being of the nature of wrong assessment of values, are not different from moha (delusion). The two viz. rāga (attachment) and dueșa (aversion) spring from moha (delusion)." Moha lies at the root of rāga and dveşa. These three doşas (defects) goad one to action, good or bad, pleasant or painful. In other words, dosa leads to pravrtti (volitional activity),s that is, the threefold action of the organ of speech, mind, and body.' Dharma (merit) and
1 SK, 64-68.
2 iccha-dveşa-prayatpa-sukha-duḥkha-jñänäny ātmano lingam-NS, I. I. IO. These characteristics are uncommon signs which prove the existence of soul and as such are considered as the specific qualities of it. See Bhāşya and Vitti. 3 See NS, III. 2. 61 and Bhāsya.
4 Ibid., IV. I. 2-3. 5 Cf. ibid., IV. 1. 6.
See Bhāsya on NS, IV. 1. 3. 7 vişayeşu ranjanīyāḥ sankalpā rāga-hetavaḥ, kopanīyāḥ sarkalpā dvesahetavah, ubhaye ca sankalpa na mithya-pratipatti-laksanatvän mohad anye, tāv imau moha-yoni rāga-dveşāv iti--Bhāsya, NS. IV. 1. 6. 8 Cf. NS, I. 1. 18 with Bhasya.
9 See NS, I. 1. 17.
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