A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 - Surendranath Dasgupta (free ebook reader for android .txt) 📗

in general of five kinds, namely delusion (mithyâtva), want of control (avirati), inadvertence (pramâda), the activities of body, mind and speech (yoga) and the passions (ka@sâyas). Delusion again is of five kinds, namely ekânta (a false belief unknowingly accepted and uncritically followed), viparîta (uncertainty as to the exact nature of truth), vinaya (retention of a belief knowing it to be false, due to old habit), sa@ms'aya (doubt as to right or wrong) and ajñâna (want of any belief due to the want of application of reasoning powers). Avirati is again of five kinds, injury (hi@msâ), falsehood (an@rta), stealing (cauryya), incontinence (abrahma), and desire to have things which one does not already possess (parigrahâkâ@nk@sâ). Pramâda or inadvertence is again of five kinds, namely bad conversation (vikathâ), passions (ka@sâya), bad use of the five senses (indriya), sleep (nidrâ), attachment (râga) [Footnote ref 3].

Coming to dravyâsrava we find that it means that actual influx of karma which affects the soul in eight different manners in accordance with which these karmas are classed into eight different kinds, namely jñânâvara@nîya, dars'anâvara@nîya, vedanîya, mohanîya, âyu, nâma, gotra and antarâya. These actual influxes take place only as a result of the bhâvâsrava or the reprehensible thought activities, or changes (pari@nâma) of the soul. The states of thought which condition the coming in of the karmas is called bhâvabandha and the actual bondage of the soul by the actual impure connections of the karmas is technically called dravyabandha. It is on account of bhâvabandha that the actual connection between the karmas and the soul can take place [Footnote ref 4]. The actual connections of the karmas with the soul are like the sticking

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[Footnote 1: Dravyasa@mgraha, S'I. 29.]

[Footnote 2: Nemicandra's commentary on Dravyasa@mgraha, S'I. 29, edited by S.C. Ghoshal, Arrah, 1917.]

[Footnote 3: See Nemicandra's commentary on S'I. 30.]

[Footnote 4: Nemicandra on 31, and Vardhamânapurâ@na XVI. 44, quoted by
Ghoshal.]

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of dust on the body of a person who is besmeared all over with oil. Thus Gunaratna says "The influx of karma means the contact of the particles of karma matter, in accordance with the particular kind of karma, with the soul just like the sticking of dust on the body of a person besmeared with oil. In all parts of the soul there being infinite number of karma atoms it becomes so completely covered with them that in some sense when looked at from that point of view the soul is sometimes regarded as a material body during its sa@msâra stage [Footnote ref 1]." From one point of view the bondage of karma is only of puf@nya and pâpa (good and bad karmas) [Footnote ref 2]. From another this bondage is of four kinds, according to the nature of karma (prak@rti) duration of bondage (sthiti), intensity (anubhâga) and extension (prades'a). The nature of karma refers to the eight classes of karma already mentioned, namely the jñanavaraniya karma which obscures the infinite knowledge of the soul of all things in detail, dars'anâvara@nîya karma which obscures the infinite general knowledge of the soul, vedanîya karma which produces the feelings of pleasure and pain in the soul, mohanîya karma, which so infatuates souls that they fail to distinguish what is right from what is wrong, âyu karma, which determines the tenure of any particular life, nâma karma which gives them personalities, gotra karma which brings about a particular kind of social surrounding for the soul and antaraya karma which tends to oppose the performance of right actions by the soul. The duration of the stay of any karma in the soul is called sthiti. Again a karma may be intense, middling or mild, and this indicates the third principle of division, anubhâga. Prades'a refers to the different parts of the soul to which the karma particles attach themselves. The duration of stay of any karma and its varying intensity are due to the nature of the kasayas or passions of the soul, whereas the different classification of karmas as jñânâvaranîya, etc., are due to the nature of specific contact of the soul with karma matter [Footnote ref 3].

Corresponding to the two modes of inrush of karmas (bhâvâsrava and dravyâsrava) are two kinds of control opposing this inrush, by actual thought modification of a contrary nature and by the actual stoppage of the inrush of karma particles, and these are respectively called bhâvasa@mvara and dravyasa@mvara [Footnote ref 4].

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[Footnote 1: See Gu@naratna, p. 181]

[Footnote 2: Ibid.]

[Footnote 3: Nemicandra, 33.]

[Footnote 4: Varddhamâ@na XVI 67-68, and Dravyasa@mgrahav@rtti
S'I. 35.]

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The bhâvasa@mvaras are (1) the vows of non-injury, truthfulness, abstinence from stealing, sex-control, and non-acceptance of objects of desire, (2) samitis consisting of the use of trodden tracks in order to avoid injury to insects (îryâ), gentle and holy talk (bhâ@sa), receiving proper alms (e@sa@nâ), etc, (3) guptis or restraints of body, speech and mind, (4) dharmas consisting of habits of forgiveness, humility, straightforwardness, truth, cleanliness, restraint, penance, abandonment indifference to any kind of gain or loss, and supreme sex-control [Footnote ref 1], (5) anuprek@sâ consisting of meditation about the transient character of the world, about our helplessness without the truth, about the cycles of world-existence, about our own responsibilities for our good and bad actions, about the difference between the soul and the non-soul, about the uncleanliness of our body and all that is associated with it, about the influx of karma and its stoppage and the destruction of those karmas which have already entered the soul, about soul, matter and the substance of the universe, about the difficulty of attaining true knowledge, faith and conduct, and about the essential principles of the world [Footnote ref 2], (6) the parî@sahajaya consisting of the conquering of all kinds of physical troubles of heat, cold, etc, and of feelings of discomforts of various kinds, (7) câritra or right conduct.

Next to this we come to nirjarâ or the purging off of the karmas or rather their destruction. This nirjarâ also is of two kinds bhâvanirjarâ and dravyanirjarâ. Bhâvanirjarâ means that change in the soul by virtue of which the karma particles are destroyed. Dravyanirjarâ means the actual destruction of these karma particles either by the reaping of their effects or by penances before their time of fruition, called savipâka and avipâka nirjarâs respectively. When all the karmas are destroyed mok@sa or liberation is effected.

Pudgala.

The ajîva (non-living) is divided into pudgalâstikâya, dharmastikâya, adharmâstikâya, âkâs'âstikâya, kâla, pu@nya, pâpa. The word pudgala means matter [Footnote ref 3], and it is called astikâya in the sense that it occupies space. Pudgala is made up of atoms

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[Footnote 1: Tattvârthâdhigamasûtra.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid.]

[Footnote 3: This is entirely different from the Buddhist sense. With the
Buddhists pudgala means an individual or a person.]

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which are without size and eternal. Matter may exist in two states, gross (such as things we see around us), and subtle (such as the karma matter which sullies the soul). All material things are ultimately produced by the combination of atoms. The smallest indivisible particle of matter is called an atom (a@nu). The atoms are all eternal and they all have touch, taste, smell, and colour. The formation of different substances is due to the different geometrical, spherical or cubical modes of the combination of the atoms, to the diverse modes of their inner arrangement and to the existence of different degrees of inter-atomic space (ghanapratarabhedena). Some combinations take place by simple mutual contact at two points (yugmaprades'a) whereas in others the atoms are only held together by the points of attractive force (oja@hprades'a) (Prajñâpanopâ@ngasûtra, pp. 10-12). Two atoms form a compound (skandha), when the one is viscous and the other dry or both are of different degrees of viscosity or dryness. It must be noted that while the Buddhists thought that there was no actual contact between the atoms the Jains regarded the contact as essential and as testified by experience. These compounds combine with other compounds and thus produce the gross things of the world. There are, however, liable to constant change (pari@nâma) by which they lose some of their old qualities (gu@nas) and acquire new ones. There are four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, and the atoms of all these are alike in character. The perception of grossness however is not an error which is imposed upon the perception of the atoms by our mind (as the Buddhists think) nor is it due to the perception of atoms scattered spatially lengthwise and breadthwise (as the Sâ@mkhya-Yoga supposes), but it is due to the accession of a similar property of grossness, blueness or hardness in the combined atoms, so that such knowledge is generated in us as is given in the perception of a gross, blue, or a hard thing. When a thing appears as blue, what happens is this, that the atoms there have all acquired the property of blueness and on the removal of the dars'anavara@nîya and jñânavara@nîya veil, there arises in the soul the perception and knowledge of that blue thing. This sameness (samâna-rûpatâ) of the accession of a quality in an aggregate of atoms by virtue of which it appears as one object (e.g. a cow) is technically called tiryaksâmânya. This sâmânya or generality is thus neither an imposition of the mind nor an abstract entity

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(as maintained by the Naiyâyikas) but represents only the accession of similar qualities by a similar development of qualities of atoms forming an aggregate. So long as this similarity of qualities continues we perceive the thing to be the same and to continue for some length of time. When we think of a thing to be permanent, we do so by referring to this sameness in the developing tendencies of an aggregate of atoms resulting in the relative permanence of similar qualities in them. According to the Jains things are not momentary and in spite of the loss of some old qualities and the accession of other ones, the thing as a whole may remain more or less the same for some time. This sameness of qualities in time is technically called ûrdhvasâmânya [Footnote ref 1]. If the atoms are looked at from the point of view of the change and accession of new qualities, they may be regarded as liable to destruction, but if they are looked at from the point of view of substance (dravya) they are eternal.

Dharma, Adharma, Âkâs'a.

The conception of dharma and adharma in Jainism is absolutely different from what they mean in other systems of Indian philosophy. Dharma is devoid of taste, touch, smell, sound and colour; it is conterminous with the mundane universe (lokâkâs'a) and pervades every part of it. The term astikâya is therefore applied to it. It is the principle of motion, the accompanying circumstance or cause which makes motion possible, like water to a moving fish. The water is a passive condition or circumstance of the movement of a fish, i.e. it is indifferent or passive (udâsîna) and not an active or solicitous (preraka) cause. The water cannot compel a fish at rest to move; but if the fish wants to move, water is then the necessary help to its motion. Dharma cannot make the soul or matter move; but if they are to move, they cannot do so without the presence of dharma. Hence at the extremity of the mundane world (loka) in the region of the liberated souls, there being no dharma, the liberated souls attain perfect rest. They cannot move there because there is not the necessary motion-element, dharma [Footnote ref 2]. Adharma is also regarded as a similar pervasive entity which

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[Footnote 1: See Prameyakamalamârta@n@da, pp. 136-143; Jainatarkavârttika, p. 106.]

[Footnote 2: Dravyasa@mgrahav@rtti, 17-20.]

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helps jîvas and pudgalas to keep themselves at rest. No substance could move if there were no dharma, or could remain at rest if there were no adharma. The necessity of admitting these two categories seems probably to have been felt by the Jains on account of their notion that the inner activity of the jîva or the atoms required for its exterior realization the help of some other extraneous entity, without which this could not have been transformed into actual exterior motion. Moreover since the jîvas were regarded as having activity inherent in them they would be found to be moving even at the time of liberation (moksa), which was undesirable; thus it was conceived that actual motion required for its fulfilment the help of an extraneous entity which was absent in the region of the liberated souls.

The category of âkâs'a is that subtle entity which pervades the mundane universe (loka) and the transcendent region of liberated souls (aloka) which allows the subsistence of all other substances such as dharma, adharma, jîva, pudgala. It is not a mere negation and absence of veil or obstruction, or mere emptiness, but a positive entity which helps other things to interpenetrate it. On account of its pervasive character it is called âkâs'âstikâya [Footnote ref 1].

Kâla and Samaya.

Time (kâla) in reality consists of those innumerable particles which never mix with