What is Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 25

SACRED PHILOSOPHY
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purpose here, nor does time permit me at present, to enter into an examination of all these substances, and I am content to refer you to the work of the great Jaina acharyas who have dealt with the subject at length. Those of you who know English will also find it dealt with in my work on comparative religion entitled the Key of Knowledge. I, however, propose to examine here the nature of spirit and shall also briefly deal with matter, since these are the two main things the knowledge of whose properties is essential to a thorough understanding of the Jaina Siddh inta, which, as will become clear by and by, is but another term for Religion proper.
To begin with, spirit, the living substance or jiva (lit. that which is alive), is characterised by awareness, that is, knowledge and perception. It is different from matter and is not matter, though under certain conditions it is liable to becoming mixed or fused with that substance. When existing in combination with matter it is regarded as ašuddha (impure); and this is the condition of all the souls that have not yet attained nirvana, that is to say, of those that are still involved in transmigration. This is tantamount to saying that when souls become pure, i.e., separated from matter, they obtain nirvana. Pure spirit is omniscient, blissful and immortal by nature. As such, it is termed Paramatman (God); and every soul has the capacity to become a God by purifying itself. The aim of Religion is to enable the soul to attain to Godhood and to obtain everlasting bliss. This, briefly, is the description of Spirit in the Jaina Siddhinta.
Modern science, however, denies the very existence of Spirit as a substance, holding knowledge and perception to be the outcome of special groupings of atoms of matter. The very first question before us now, therefore, is whether consciousness, that is, the faculty of knowledge and perception, appertains to matter or is something different from it ?
Now, a great deal has been written on the subject by all sorts of writers in modern times, but unfortunately most of it is not to the point. So far as materialistic writers are concerned, they seem to hold that consciousness is either produced by the brain of man and certain other highly developed animals, or is the intensification of a primitive form of sensation with which they regard matter to