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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
104
Atman and Moksa
ciousness does not exist in the states of deep sleep and swoon, in the form of potentiality; for, even for the consciousness to exist in a potential form, it requires a substratum to inhere, and as there is nothing like a Self wherein consciousness can exist in a potential form, the other possibility also is eliminated. Even though the body is the cause and consciousness is its effect, the effect does not always follow the cause. The two entities are not related in all states. For, the body during deep sleep and swoon remains without consciousness. The effect is not thus unconditionally and invariably related to the cause. The relation between the body and consciousness, if accepted as true, can be subjected to criticism, because numerous fallacious conclusions follow from it. If the whole of the body were the cause of consciousness, any changes caused in the body would affect the consciousness also in the corresponding ways, and that consciousness may vary according to the variations in the size of the body, But we find in actuality, that in spite of the deformities of the body and variations in the sizes of the body, the mind can work in the usual normal ways; and even though the same body continues to exist unchanged, there can be many mental changes in an individual. Thus, if the body be regarded as the cause of consciousness many fallacious and absurd conclusions follow. Merely because the body and the consciousness coexist they cannot be said to be related as the cause and the effect. The body may be absolutely necessary for the appearance and
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