Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

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STUDIES IN JAINISM in itself unconscious and devoid of all attributes. The ātman, according to them, acquires consciousness only as a result of suitable collocations. In order to avoid the absolute eternalism on the one hand, and the absolute nihilism on the other, the Buddha neither accepted nor denied the existence of the soul." According to Sankara Vedānta, the ātman which is sat, cit and ānanda, is identical with Brahman.
Having a kinship with the above systems in some respects, the Jaina school of philosophers believes that the soul is eternal, conscious, blissful and pure in its nature; it has plurality and possesses infinite energy. It is "a doer and": an enjoyer. It migrates in a series of existences, and, in fact, is free from Karmas."6 In Jaina philosophy, consciousness is not an attribute of the soul but it is the very nature of it. It is not held to be absolutely immutable and unmodifiable; it undergoes modifications (vivartamān) such as the forms of god. man etc. The most noteworthy conception of the soul in Jainism is that it conforms to the dimension of the body it lives in. In this sense, the soul oecupies the whole body from tip of the hair to the nail of the foot. Thus the soul can be contracted or expanded according to the body it possesses. It is of a very small size while the foetus is in the womb and goes on expanding gradually with its body till it attains its full dimension. It is said that as a lamp placed in a small pot or in a room illumines the whole space, so the soul expands and contracts according to the body of an ant or an elephant. A better example can be cited by mentioning
5. Kim nu kho bho Gotama atth'attā ti.
Evam vutte Bhagavā tunhi ahosi. Kim pana bho Gotama natth'attā ti. Dutiyam pi kho Bhagavā tunhi ahosi.
Sagutta Nikaya, IV, 400. कर्ता च कर्मभेदानां भोक्ता कर्मफलस्य च ।
संसर्ता परिनिर्वाता स ह्यात्मा नान्यलक्षणाः ।। This sloka is very old and often quoted by Haribhadra Suri
Šāstra-vārttā-samuccaya, 1.9) and other writers. 7. अणुगुरुदेहपमाणो उवसंहारप्पसप्पदो चेदा ।
Dravya-samgraha. 9.
6.