________________
12
ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
the immediately succeeding one cannot but occur at one and the same time. This is sufficient to dispose of Kshanik-váda, i.e., the philosophy which denies the permanence of substances.
With reference to the notion that the world was made by a creator, it will be observed that substances are only bundles of qualities by means of which alone we are conscious of their existence. For instance, gold has materiality, brightness, softness, yellowness. etc., etc., for its attributes, and all our knowledge concerning its nature is simply the sum-total of all its attributes. This amounts to saying that qualities inhere in substances, which, as stated above, are but bundles of attributes. Now, with reference to the hypothesis of creation, we have already seen that substances are eternal and uncreate, so that no one can be said to be their author. This narrows down the field of enquiry to the question : whether any one does or ever did manufacture the world from these substances ? But before we hold that a living being is the maker of this world, it is necessary to establish the physical contact between him and the material which he may be said to have moulded into a cosmos. It must also be shown that the substances in nature did not perform their appropriate function prior to the making of the world. The physical contact between the maker and the raw material of the world is necessary, because nowhere in nature do we observe a potter succeeding in the making of a pot unless he can physically operate upon the lump of clay which is to assume the desired shape in his hand. Now, according to all the systems of theology prevalent in our midst to-day, the supposed maker of our world is pure Effulgence, having neither hands nor feet, so that it is impossible for such a being to directly operate upon any material.
This should ordinarily be sufficient to dispose of the matter, but prejudice is not so easily satisfied. We shall now be told that at a word of command--a sort of creative fiat-of this world-architect things began to shape themselves and assumed the forms he desired them to take. Observation, however, belies even this assumption ; for nowhere in nature do we find a case of unintelligent raw material obeying the command of a manufacturer. I may fret and foam and command as loudly as I am capable of doing, but it is certain that
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
