World Of Jainism

Author(s): Vishwanath Pandey
Publisher: Vishwanath Pandey

Page 75

THE WORLD OF JAINISM
73
However, the difficulty persisted. It was difficult on this contention to understand how memory, recognition, etc. could be explained without assuming the existence of mind. This difficulty forced the Jaina thinkers, later on, to accord to mind the status of a quasi-sense organ (no-indriya) but not a sense organ (anindriya). Pressed by the internal necessity of the system to counter the persistent attack on it by the rival systems, the concept of mind gained importance in the Jaina philosophy later on. Consequently the mind was accepted as a sense organ in Jainism and was defined as that which had for its
he data of all the senses (sarvartha grahanam manah). It was regarded to be made of subtle matter (manovargana).
The Senses
As has been stated earlier, the Jainas believe that there are five senses, and all of them are viewed in two aspects: (1) physical (dravya-indriya), and (2) psychical (bhava-indriya.39 The first refers to physical organs and their function; and the second refers to the psychological activity of attainment (labdhi) of knowledge. The attainment of knowledge, as has been stated earlier, occurs due to partial or total destruction of knowledge covering Karmas. Thus the senses have but to perform a passive role in the activity of perception. It is the soul which is the master of all.
Perception
The senses are capacities of soul, and they are instruments of soul through which the soul enjoys the external qualities, like form, sound, sapid, etc. Jainism presents an elaborate analysis of the objects of the senses. Perception or mati-jnana is the result of contact between the senses and their objects. Leaving aside the visual perception where there is no direct contact (sparsa) between the eye and its object, e.g. colour, the other four kinds of perception take place as a result of direct contact or touch between the sense organs and their respective objects. Perception is further classified into different kinds, such as quick, hidden, lasting and so on. Other psychological processes such as avagraha, iha and dharana have already been discussed in the section on epistemology.
As regards the problem of emotions and feelings, the Jainas hold almost the same view as that of the Buddhists or other ethical oriented systems of Indian philosophy. A reference, to this is made in the section on the Jaina ethics.
39. Tattvartha Sutra, II, 16.
40. Ibid.