Svabhavvada a Study

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Z_Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_Mahotsav_Granth_Part_1_012002.pdf and Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_

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SVABHAVAVADA (NATURALISM): A STUDY: 19 the cornerstone of Jaina philosophy. Silanka, writing as an advocate of Niyativada, disposes of Svabhävavada as follows:
"Moreover the causing of joy and sorrow cannot be ascribed to inherent character (svabhäva). For is this different from a man or the same as he? If it is different it is not capable of causing the joy and sorrow which befall him, on account of that difference. Nor (if it is) the same (as he). For, if it were, it would be a mere man.
"If happiness is experienced as a result of human activity there should be no difference in the reward (of equal exertion), nor should there be lack of reward when equal effort is exerted, whether by servants, merchants or peasants, etc. Yet it is often seen that even when no means of livelihood such as service, etc., is followed, rich reward is obtained. So nothing is achieved by human effort."
In the Nyayamañjari" Jayanta dismisses this doctrine of Svabhäva and establishes that of Adṛṣṭa or Karman. Jayanta is well-known as a superb writer on Nyaya. This great logician, however, succumbs to the temptation of ascribing a manifestly weak argument to the Svabhāvavādin, who argues: "The opening of a babe's mouth is spontaneous-natural like the blooming of a lotus bud." The Siddhantin refutes it saying that the blooming of a lotus bud is caused by the touch of the sun's rays and that it is not spontaneous or natural.
That the doctrine of Svabhava once enjoyed immense popularity and exerted great influence on the thinkers of those times would be patent to any impartial student of the Bhagavadgita. The Gītā takes recourse to the doctrine of Svabhava in defending the difference in respective func
तथा स्वभावस्यापि सुखदुःखादिकर्तृत्यानुपपत्तिः
यतोऽस्त्रे स्वभावः पुरुषाद् भिन्नोऽभिशो या यदि निनो न पुरुषाश्रिते सुखदुःखे कर्तुमलं तस्माद् भिन्नत्वादिति । नाप्यभिन्नः । अभेदे पुरुष एवं स्यात् तस्य चाकर्तृत्वमुक्तमेव । -Silanka's Commentary to Sütrakṛtānga: folio 31 (a)
यदि पुरुषकारकृतं सुखानुभूयेत ततः सेवकवर्षिकादीनां समाने पुरुषकारे सति फलप्राप्तिर्वसदृश्यं फल्पमातिथ न भवेत् । कस्यचित्तु सेवादिव्यापाराभावेऽपि विशिष्टफलावाप्तिर्दृश्यत इति । अतो न पुरुषकारात् किञ्चिदासाद्यते । -Silanka's Commentary to Sütrakṛtanga: folios 30 (b) and 31 (a) 27 मनु कमकुवासादिवास्वाभाविकमेव शिशोर्मुखविकाशादिकार्थं स्यात्, स्वाभाविकं नाम किमुच्यते किमदेतुकमविद्याततुकमनियतहेतुकं या ।...
न चायपतदृष्टान्तसमाश्रयेण स्वाभाविकमेतद्वालकर कुल शनिमित्तोपसर्पणमिति वक्तुमुचितमनन्तरमेव निरस्तत्बाद ।
-Jayanta's Nyāyamañjarī (Prameyaprakaraņa, pp. 41-42, KSS ed. 1936)