Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 53

VAISHALİ RESEARCH BULLETIN NO.3
mean by a living organism ? By living organism we mean an organism that has a power to maintain its physiological equilibrium. In Biology, this process has been known as homeosytasis, which is considered as an important quality of living organism. The second essential quality of a living organism is its capacity of adjustment with its environment. Whenever a living organism fails to maintain its physiological equilibrium and adjust itself with its environment it tends towards death. Death is nothing but failure of this process. It follows that where there is life, there are efforts to avoid unequilibrium to maintain equilibrium.
Psychological Basis of Samatva
Nobody wants to live in a state of mental tension. We like no tension but relaxation, no anxiety but satisfaction. This shows that our psychological nature is working for a mental peace or a mental equ brium. Though Freud accepts that there is a conflict between our Id and Super ego but at the same time he agrees that our ego or conscious level is always working to maintain an equilibrium or for the adjustment between these two poles of our personality. It is a fact that there are inental states such as emotional excitements, passions, anxieties and frustrations, but we cannot say that they form our essential nature because they do not exist for their own sake; they exist for satisfaction or expression. Secondly, they are resultant by some other external factors. An important process of our personality is the process of adjustment and an adjustment is nothing but a process of restoring peace, harmony and integration. In this way, we can say that the concept of samatva has a sound basis for its justification in our organic and psychological nature.
Samatva as a Directive Principle of Living
Some one may remark that the Darwinian theory of evolution goes against the concept of samatva. Darwin presented a theory of evolution of life, in which he suggested that 'Struggle' for existence is the basic prin. ciple of living. Apparently, it is true that there is a struggle for existence in our world and nobody can deny the fact. But due to certain reasons. we cannot call this as directive principle of life. To the question ;'Why is it so ?" My humble answer is that first of all this theory is self-contradictory because its basic concept is subsisting on others, that is, 'living by killing'. Secondly, it is opposed to the basic human nature and even animal nature to certain extent. Struggle is not our inner nature ( 1991
97) but it is only a resultant nature. It is imposed on us by external factors. Whenever we have to struggle we do it out of necessity and not out of nature, and what is done in compulsion cannot be a guiding prin. ciple of our life, because it does not follow from our inner nature. Thirdly, it goes against the judgements of our faculty of reasoning and the