Eight Characteristics:
Every Jiva possesses an infinite number of
qualities, Flasebappi, in his Doctrine of
karama in jaina philolophy mentions
eight important characteristics:
1.
The faculty of omniscience (kevala-
jnana)
2.
The faculty of absolute
undifferentiated cognition (kevala-darsana)
3.
Superiority over joy and grief.
4.
Possession of belief I complete religious truth (samayakatva), and irreproachable moral conduct (caritra)
5.
Possession of eternal life (aksayashiti)
6.
Complete formlessess (amurtava)
7.
Unrestricted energy (viryatva)
8.
Complete equality in rank with other Jivas.
The first characteristic of
the soul is supayoga. The word upayoga is difficult to define. It is
the source of experience. The cognitive, cognitive and adjective aspects spring
form it. It is different a of living organism. Umasavati says that upayoga is the essential characteristic of the soul. 17 Upayoga has
contain prominence. Upayoga is that by which a function is serve: upayujayte anena it upayogah. It is also
described as that by which a subject is grasped. 18 In the Gommatasara: jivakanda, Upayoga is
described as the drie which leads to the apprehension of object.19 It is the source of the psychical aspect of
experience. It gie rise to the experiecne f objects, and the experience expresses
itself in form sof jnana and darsana. Upayoga
is of two types: anakara, formless, ans
sakara, possessed of form. Anakara anakara, formless, ans sakara, possessed of
form. Anakara Upayoga is formless, indeterminate cognition. Sakara Upayoga
is determinate cognition, a defined form of experience. It would not be out of
place to point out that upyoga is ot
the resultant of consciousness as it is sometimes maintained. This was one of
the earlier attempts to translate Upayoga. Nor is it a sort of inclination
arising from consciousness. It is the cognitive drive, which gives rise to
experience. It is, in fact, the source of all experience, the Jaina
philosophers were aware of the driving force of experience, the force by which
experience, the force by which experience is possible. This may beckoned to the
‘horme’ of the modern psychologists. It may be called home in the sense that
McDougall has used the term. It is a vital impulse for urge to action. Nunn has
stated that home is the basis of activity the at differentiates the living
animal from dead matter. It is like Schopenhauer’s will to lie’, and Bergson’s
elan vital’ jnana and darasana are manifestations of upyoga.
The biological studies of
the lower animals from the amoebae onwards show that all animals are centers of
energy in constant dynamical relation with the world, yet confronting it in
their own characteristic way. A name was needed to express this fundamental
property of life, the drive or a felt tendency towards a particular end. Some
psychologists called it conation or the coactive process. But this drive may
not always be conscious.
There is the presence of an
internal drive in such processes. “To this drive or urge, whether it occurs in
the conscious life of men and the higher animals war propose to give a single
name…. horme”20 This activity of the mind is a fundamental property of life. It
has various other names, like ‘ the will to live’ elan vital’, the life urge
and the libido. Horme under one form or another has been the fundament postulate
of amarck Butler, Bergso ad Bernard Shaw. McDougall took great pains to present
the hormic theory of psychology as against the mechanistic interpretation of
life and mind.
The hormic force determines
experience and behavior. We get conscious experience because of this drive. The
conscious experience takes the form of perception and understanding. Horme
operates even in the unconscious behavior of owe animals. In the plants and
animals were see it operate I the preservation of organic balance. In our own physical
level. We circulate our blood, wr breathe and we digest our food, and all these
are the expressions of the hormic energy. It operates at all legalese both in
individual and the racial sense. 21 But
the Horme expressed and presented by the Jaina philosophers could not be
developed and annualized in terms of the modern psychology, because their
analysis of Upayoga was purely an epistemological problem tempered with
metaphysical speculation. They were aware of the fact that there is a purposive
force which actuates and determines experience. This is clear from the
distinction between jnana and darsana as two forms of upayoga.
Citta or cetana as a
characteristic of the our is important in Indian philosophy. In thr Dravyasamgradha, jiva is described as
possessing cetaa from the nominal point of view. Cetana is a sort of incliatio,
which arises rom upayoga. This
inclination branches in two direction jnana
and darsana. Darsana may be said to be undifferentiated knowledge. Janana
is cognition defined the jiva has
indinite jnana and darsaa but certain
classes of Karman, like jananavaraiya and
Darsanavaraniya tend to obscure and
confuse the essential nature of the jiva.
From the phenomenta point of view, darssaa ad jnana tend to manifest
themselves in eight kinds of jnana and
four kinds of darsana.
The possession of Upayoga
raises the question whether the Jiva possesses upayoga and is yet different from it , or whether it is identical
with it . the Nyaya theory does not recognise the identity of quality and its
possessor . Jainism asserts that oly from the phenomenal point of view they are
separable . In pancastikayasara we
read “Only in common parlance do we distinguish darsana and jana. But in reality there is o separation” 22
The SOUL IS INSEPARABLE FROK
Upayoga. Horme is an essential characteristic of the living organisms. It is
manifested in the fundamental property experienced in the incest adjustments
and adventures that make up the tissue of life and which may be called drive or
felt tendency towards an end. 23 Animal life is not merely permeated by
physical ad chemical processes; it is more tha that even the simplest animal is
autonomous.
The soul is simple ad
without parts it is formless as the soul is immaterial it has no form. This
quality has bee mentioned in other systems also. The Jaina thinkers were
against the Buddhist idea of the soul as a cluster of khandas Buddhists do not refer to the permanent soul. It is a
composite of mental states called khanadas
. in modern western thought Hume
says, “ when I enter most intimately into what I cal myself, I always
stumble upon some perception or other of hear or cold light or shade, love or
hatred , pain or pleasure. I never catch myself any time without perception,
and never can observe anything but the perception,” hoffding stated that the
ego has been looked for in vain as something absolutely simple. The nature of
the ego is manifested in the combination of sensation, ideas and feetlilngsi,
but Herbart maintains that the soul is a simple being not only without parts
but also without qualitative multiplicity. Modern psychology has emphasized
substantiality, simplicity persistence and consciousness as the attributes of
the soul. Descartes has said, I am the thing that thinks, that is to say who
doubts, who affirms. Who loves, who hates and feels.,” he designates this thing
as substance.25
Hamilto advocated the four
characteristics with the greatest explicitness. Other prominent names are those
porter, Calkins, Angelli and Aveling.26
From the phenomenal pint of
view jiva is also desceibed as
possessing four pranas. They are
sense (indriya), energy (bala), life (ayus ) and respiration (ana).
The pancastikayasara gives the same description. The idea of prana is found in Indian and western
thought. In the Old Testamet (Fenesis book I) we read , “ the lord God breathed into the nostril the breath of
life and man became a lying soul”. In the primitive men life when it ceases to
blow men die, I the Navaho leagued there is a description of the life force
according to which we see the trace of the wind in the skin at the tips of
fingers parkas refers to psycho-physical factor of the organism. The jiva assumes the bodily powers when
it takes new forms in each new birth.
Whatever thing manifests in the four pranas
live and is Jiva 27 The
four pranas are manifest in ten forms. The indriya expresses itself in
five senses . bala may refer to the mind the body ad speech. Ayus and an are
one each. These pranas in all their
details need not be present in all organisms, because there are organisms with
less than five sense organs. But there must be the four main characteristics.
The most perfectly developed souls have all the ten pranas and the lowest have only four. This has a great biological
and psychological significance. Comparative psychology points out that in the
psycho-physical development of the various animal species at the lower leave,
the chemical sense which is affected by chemical reaction is the only sense
function; and it later becomes the separate sense of test and smell. Experiment
investigations carried b Riley and Forel point out that the chemicalsense is
used but insects like moths even for mating. Fore has given a top- chemical
theory for explaining the behavior of bees. As we go higher I the scale of
life, the chemical sense plays little part. In birds, sight and smell are wel
developed. In mammals, we find a higher degree of qualitative discrimination of
smell. As we go higher still, we get the variability of adaptation, which may
be called intelligence.
In the Brahamanas and the oldest Upanisads there is a
description of the psyche as consisting of five pranas. They are regarded are regarded as gactors of the
physicao-psychological life. Occasionally, more than five pranas are mentioned . but
still the idea of a permanent self had not shaped itself . in the third Adhyaya of the Brahadaranyakopanisad
Yajavalka was asked to explained what happened to a person after the body
has been dissolved and the parts of the psyche has bee remitted to the fire and
wind. He avoids the discussion and suggests that Karama remains after death. 28
This was step forward towards the formation of the permanent self. Brahadaranyakopanosad also contains a
discussion about the constituent parts of the soul. Eight instead of five have
been suggested. Vijanana and retah
are mentioned . This vijnanamayapurusa comes nearer to the conception of the soul,
although personal immortality is ot emphasized in Jainism also, the idea of a
permanent soul possessing pranas must have developed on the same
lines.
From the phenomenal point of
view, the soul is the Lord (prabhu), the doer (karata), enjoyed (bhakata) limited to his body (dehamarta), still incorporeal, ad it is
ordinarily found with Karama. As a potter considers himself as a maker and
enjoyer of the clay pot so from the practical pint of ciew the mundane suoul is
said sto be the doer of things like constructing house and the enjoyer of sense
objects.29 As the soul produces impure thought –captivities and as a
consequence the material Karmas, it also enjoys thoughts with the help of the
material Karmas Thus Jiva enjoys its thought –created activity. However, from
the nominal point of view, Jiva is the doer of suddha bhavas or pure thought (Karmas);
and from the phenomenal point of view, it is the doer of pudgaala karmas or Karmic matter.
30 The distinction between the formal
cause nimiety (nimitta), and material cause upadana,
has been introduced for the description of the soul the Jainas say that the
soul is the efficient cause of the material Karmas . the Jiva possesses
consciousness and consciousness manifest itself in the form of various mental
states. These matal states are responsible for activities, which produce
material Karmas. It is therefore asserted that Jiva is The pancastikayasara
describes the ataman as the agent of its own bhavas but it is not the agent of pudgala Karmas .31
Jainism emphasizes the activity of the Jiva as against the Sakhya view
of the passive udasia purusa. As a
consequence. Of activity, the Jiva experiences happiness and misery. But
Nemicandra says that it is only from the phenomenal point of view. From the
oumenal poit of view, Jiva has consciousness and it enjoys etera bliss. In the
Dravyasamgraaha we read , “ niccayanayado
cedaa-bhavam khu adassa” The joys and sorrows that Jiva experiences oare th
fruits of dravyakarman. But Buddhism
believes that the agent never enjoys the fruits of karma James ward giving the
genera characterization of the “ varied contents of empirifal self, says that
the self has first of all a ) a unique interest and b) a certain inwardness, further it is c) an individual that d) persists, e) is active, ad finally it
knows itseft.32
But the process of
entanglement in activity and enjoyment is beginnings. The soul gets entangled I
the samsra and embodied through the operation of karmas. It assumes various
forms due to the materially cause conditions (upadhi) ad ias ivolved I the cycle of birth and death. It is
subjected to the forceds of Karmas which express themselves, first through the
feelings and emotions and secondly in chains of very subtle kinds of matter,
invisible to the eye ad the ordinary instruments of science. Who the soul in
embodied it is aggected b the environment. William James distinguishes between
the self as known or the me the empirical ego as it is sometimes allied , ad
the self as know or the I pure ego the constituents of the me may be divided
into three classes: the material me, the social me and the spiritual me. The
body is innermost part of the material me. The come the clothes our home and
property. they become parts of our empirical ego with different degrees of
intimacy. A man’s social me is the recognition that he gets from his fellowmen.
A man has a many selves as there are individuals and groups who recognize him.
The spiritual me also belongs to the empirical me. It consists of the “entire
collection of consciousness, my psyche faculties and disposition taken
concretely” but the pure self the self as the kower , is very different from
the empirical self, it is the thinker that which thinks this is permanent what
th philosophers call the soul or the transcendent ego.33 James ward also makes a distinction between
the self known or the empirical ego, and the pure self For him, the empirical
ego is extremely complex it is the presented self. The earliest element is
presented self, the bodily or the somatic consciousness, but they never have
the same inwardness as “the sense of embodiment” we also find a certain measure
o f individual permanence and inwardness that belongs to the self. We may call
this ‘the sensitive and the appetite self.’ With the development of ideation
there saris what we call the inner zone, having still greater unity and
permanence. This is the imaging and desiring self. At the level of intellection
we come to the concept that every intelligent person is a person having
character and history ad his aim in life through social interaction. This gies
conscience a social product as Adam smith has said. At this stage a contrast between
the thinker and the object of thought is clearly formed. This is the thinking
and willing self. At this stage een the inner ideation and desire become outer
no longer strictly self. The duality of subject and object is three last order
of knowledge and is the indispensable condition of all actual experience. It is
the subject of experience that we call pure ego or self.34
The Jaina thinkers made a
distinction between the states of the soul as bahiratman, antaratman and paramaatuman.
Bahiratman consists in the identification of the self with body and eternal
Belgians it is the bodily self I this wr say, “I am the body, I am lean etc”
this identification is due to ignorance. The same soul is in the karmavastha and is characterized by suddha caitanya and bliss. It is free
from all sense of otherwise. It has discriminative knowledge. This conscious
self is ataraman in
the samyagdrsti gunasthana the
pure and perfect self which is free from the impurities of Karma is the paramatman. It is characterized perfect cognition and knowledge. It is freed
ad is a Siddha. This paramatma is jnaamaya
ad is pure consciousness it cannot be known by the sese it has o indriyas and not manas. From the oumea
point of view these are the attributes of the soul.35 The Jaina approach to the
problem is metaphysical it contains elements of psychological instigation; but
the language is the language of metaphysics. Modern psychologists, especially
the rational psychologists, stopped psychological analysis and explained the
process of realizing the pure nature of the self from the empirical stage to
stage of pure ego. But the transcendental self is not the subject of
psycholo9gy. William James has said that states of consciousness are all that
psychology needs to do her work with. Metaphysics or theology may pore the
existence of the soul: but for psychology the hypothesis of such a substantial
principle of unity is supersluous.”36
Jainism refers to the size of the soul. Although souls are
not of any definite size, they contract and expand according to the size of the
body in which they are incorporated for the time big. The soul is capable of
adjusting its size to physical body, as the lamp placed in a large or small
room illuminates the whole space of the room. Nemicandra describes it as the
phenomenal characteristic of the soul. From the numeral point of view it is
said to exist in innumerable pradesas.
37 In respect of the elasticity of
the soul, Jainism differs from the other Scholl’s of Indian thought. As Jacobi
says the Jains have a tenet of the soze of the soul which is not shared by
other philosopher.38
Some philosophers like the
Vaisesikas, Demarcates and the atomizes, thought of the soul as atomic. Some
others talked of the omnipresence of the soul. Jacob says that the origin
Vaisesika was not clear this point. Some Samakhya writers preferred the soul to
be infinitely small while Isvara Krana and later writers characterized it as
all-pervading.39 The spatial view of the habitation of
the soul had occupied the minds of the Upaisadic philosophers.
Upanisadic psychology agrees
with the Aristotellia I localizing the soul the soul I the heart. It was later
thought that it was in the brain. Yogic ad Tatric books recognized the
cerebrochemical processes , and aconciousness was traced to the brain In the Taittriyounisae (1.6.1.2.) we read that the soul in the heart
moves by passage through the bones of the palate, right up to the skull, where
the hari are made to part. The soul in the heart is called manomaya in the Kausitaki Upanisad
the soul is described as the master of all bodilyfunctions. The sense
depends on the soul as ‘relatives on the rich’ the self’s immanent in the whole
body , and is hidden in it This passage leads to the view like the Jaina view ,
that the soul fills the body . Different other accounts are given in the
Upanisads. In the brhadranyaka the self is described as small as grain of
rice or barley. In the kathopainsad we find that the soul is of the size of the
thumb.40 It dwells in the center of the
heart. In the Candogya, it is said to
be of the measure of the gpanbetween the head and the chin. William James tares
the feeling of self to the cephalic
movements. He says that the self of sells when carefully examined is found to
nosiest mainly in the collection of these peculiar motions in the head or
between the head ad the heart. 41 Descartes merits that the seat of the soul is
the pineal gland Fichte holds that the soul is a space filling principle Lotus
says that the soul must be located some where in the matrix of the arterial
brain events. These accounts tend to make us believe that the soul is something
material, which occupies space. It is sometimes pointed out that the idea of
the spatial attributes of the soul constitutes a contradiction. If the soul has
no form it cannot occupy space, en the infinite pradesas; and if it is immaterial it cannot have form. However,
this contradiction is due to the difficulties of expressing the immaterial in
thermos of the materials this has bee the perenocabulary of its own, the Freaks
had the same difficulty plato had to resort to allegories and myths for
expressing the immaterial. In Jainism although the description of the soul is
not metaphorical, it is just an tempt to come nearest immaterialism. It may be
that the difficulty is due to the complexity of substance in Jainism. Jainism
gives the cross division of substances as spiritual and non-spiritual, and
again as corporeal and non-corporeal substance like Dharma ad Adharama; and
there is the corporeal which is called pudgaga. From the phenomenal point of
view, jiva comes under the spiritual
but corporeal the corporeal need not necessarily be material.
The classification is as
follows:-
Substance
Spriitual non-spiritual
Corporeal
corporeal noncorporeal
Jiva
Matter 1.Akasa
If this division is
accepted, there need be no contradiction Again when size is attributed to the soul,
it is possible that it refers to the spheres or extent of the affiance that is
intended. In the pancastikayasara we
read that just as a lotus hued ruby, when placed in a cup of milk imparts its
luster to the milk, the soul imparts its luster to the milk, the soul imparts
it slushier to the whole body 42.
Jiva is characterized by
upward motion. Nemicandra described the pue soul as possessing urdhavagati. In the pancastikayasara it is said
when the soul is freed from all impurities it moves upward to the end of Loka.
48 For
plato the soul was above all the source of motion it is only the self
that moves. In the phaedrus, Socrates says in his decoded speech, “The soul in
immortal for that which is ever in motion is immortal” The self never eases to
move and it is the fountain and the beginning of motion to all that moves. The
movement of the soul in samsara is
possible in pure space with is devoid of the medium for motion. The Jaina
conception of the soul as possessing uedhavagati
appears to be more an ethical expediency that a metaphysical principle or a
psychological fact.
All these attributes belong
to the nature of every soul and they are clearly seen if the Jivas are pure and
free. However most of the Jivas are not pure and reed. They are contaminated by
some foreign elements which veil their purity and perfection. The foreign
elements is Karman, very fine matter, imperceptible to the senses, and which
enters into the soul and causes great changes. The souls are then involved in
the wheel of samsara. They become samasarins.
III The samsarijias
are classified on the basis of various principles like the suites and the
number of sense organs possess ed by the
they are the sthavara jivas, immovable
souls. This is the vegetable kingdom. Sri J.C. Bosehas pointed out that the
vegetable world has capacity for experience. They are one –sense organisms. Earth water fire and plats are such jivas
they possess the sense of touch. This view is peculiar to Jainism.
Itrasa jivas (movig souls) have tow to five sees worms, oysters, conschs etc.
possess taste ad touch. Ants bugh and lice have three senses taste touch and
smell . Mosquitoes, bees and flies possess four senses taste touch, smell and
sight . and birds beasts and me have all the five senses Again fie sensed
organisms may possess mind. They are called
samnaska. They may be bereft of mind (amanaska)
Plato talked of a determined
number of souls the souls that exist must always be the same they cannot be
come fewer, not yet an they become fewer, not yet can they become more
numberous.44 In the timaeus he said that the number of souls
is equal to the number the stars.45
In Gommatasara Jicakanada,
we get a detailed classification of samasarijivas.
This classification is shown in table I
Sthavara (Possessing Trasa
Paryapta Aparyapta Paryapta Aparyapta Paryapta Aprayapta
Samana Amana
( 1 )
( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) (7) (8)
aryapta Aparyapta
(9) (10)
(5) (6) Paryapta Aparyapta
(11) (12)
Paryapta Aparapta
(13) (14)
Comparative psychology
points out that there have been various stages in the development of animal
life. The first simple animals, the protozoa. Of one sense. In fact, till we
reach the insect species we find that the chemical sense predominates positive
negative and food reactions are mainly due to the chemical sense. As we go up
the animal scale we find sensory discrimination in qualitative distinctions
even the othersenses get discriminated ad developed as we proceeded in the
development of animal life. Similarly the distinction between the Jivas as paryapta and aparyapta has great psychological
significance . Gommatasara thus illustrates the paryapta developed, “as the
thing like the room jars, and clothes are full or empty so the Jivas should be
understood be complete or incomplete.46
Jiva becomes parayapta with
the absorption of Karmic matter for building up its body sense, respiration and
manes. One sensed organisms plate with the possession of food, drink body sense
and repiration. The possession of these attributes makes the first four- sensed
organisms parayapta or complete For five sensed organisms all the six are
necessary in the absence of these the Jivas are incomplete Comparative
psychology has shown that sensory discrimination has been a gradual process.
Miss washburn points out that ability to distinguish between the different
sensory experiences depends on several factors, like the nature of the sense organs
and the ability to make aired reaction movements .47 On the basis of these investigations, three different classes of
senses, like the chemical semse hearing and sight, have been mentioned the
chemical sense is manifested in the combined senses of taste and touch. As
sensory discrimination becomes more complex the mental life of animal becomes
more developed and pronounced.
IV. these characteristics of the soul are
mentioned from the practical point of view Defilement of the soul takes place
who the Karma pours into the soul this is called asrava. The soul then begins to experience mundane and emotional
experiences like the passions. The karama which comes into contact is retained
. the soul is eternally infected with matter every moment it is getting new
matter. In the normal course of things it has no end but the deliverance of the
soul from the wheel of samsara is possible by voluntary means. By the prose of samvara the soul
can stop the influx of karama; by nirjara it an eliminate the Karana already
glued to the soul. The al obstacles are removed and the soul becomes pure and
perfect, free from the wheel of samsara. Being
free , with its upward motion the Jiva attains
the liberation or moksa. In the last lines of the Fommatasara: Jivakanda, it is
said that the liberated sol remains pure and
free.
Pureand
perfect souls live eternal bliss. But they do not lose their identity as the
Vedatin sold emphasize. In the Jaina Theory of the soul eight Kahanada of the Chandogyopanisad, it is said that when a
man departs his speech is mereged in mind, his mind I breath, his breath in
fire, which I the highest being is sat. Now, that which is the subtle essece
has its self. It is the self, “ and thou Oh secetaket, art that.” In the
eleventh Khanada also, we read that when the body withers and dies ad the
living self leaves it, the livig self dies not.48 Jacobi says that here we come
nearer to the cocept of the soul. It differes from the Jaina concept in that
the soul here does not possess a permanent personality, for in mukti the jiva is mereged I Brahama and its individuality is lost. For the
Jaina, Mc Taggart’s analogy of the ‘colege of sellves’ would appear to be
apter, although what type of spiritual unity there is is Moksa, Jainism cannot
say. Mc Taggart seeks of the unity of the absoulte as that of a society. All
the seles are percect, and “ if an oppnent should remind me” he writes, “of the
notorious imperfections of all the lives of all of us, I should point out that
every self is in reality eternal and that its true qualities are oly seen in so
far as it considered as eternal” 49 Sub specie eternitatis it is progressing
towards perfection as yet unattained. The never –ceasing struggle of the soul
is an important tenet in Jainism. The universe is not, theu, an amusing
pantomime of infallible maruouettes, but a fight for perfection, in which
“something is eternally gained for the universe by the success” . the Jaina
lutlook is melioristic.
I. The Jaina
attitude is empritical and realistic. The Unpanisadic philosophers found the
immutabel reality behig the world of experience. Fautama, the Buddha, denouced
everything as fleeting and full of sorrow.mahaira stood on commonsese and
experience and found no contradiction between permaence and found no
contradiction between permanence and change. The Jaina philosophy is based on
logic and experience. Moksa is the ultimate aim of life. It is realised by the
three- fold path of right intuitio right kowledge ad right conduct. Right knowledge
is one of the major problems of Jaina philosophy. It is necessary to understand
the Jaina theory of knowedge and experience for the proper understanding of
Jaina thought. The Jaina epistemology is very complex and developed gradually
in reponse to the demand of time.
The problemof mid eludes the grasp of philosophers and
psychologists because it can beanalyzed into both metaphysical and
psychological problems. Metaphysicallyt it refers to mind as the principle of
the universe stading in realation to the phenomenal world. This is the cosmic
princple which is emphasized by the idealists as the primary principle.
Psychologically, it is the individual mind, the individual’s system of psychic
stated in realation to the worls of sense. Phgilosophers could not make a
distinction between the two aspects of the problem.
The Indian thinkers were gropig to grasp the itangible,the
ineffable and the immaterial.the distinction between mind and matter, the
mental and the physical, was vague and unclear. In the pre-Upanisadic thought,
the principle of Ttabecame the principle of order in the universe. It is the
underlying dynami force at the basis of the universe.” Even the Gods cannot
transgress it.” We see in the conception of Rta the development from the
physichal to the dicie.2 it is by the
force of Rta that human brains function.” Man kows by the divie force of the
same immanent power which makes fire to burn and river to flow.3 The interpretatio of the famous Rgvedic hymn
of creation. “nasad asin no sad asit tadanim”
ad again of “kamas tad agre samavrtatadhi manaso retah prathamain yad asit .
sato bandhumasti niravindahradi pratisya kavayo manisa”4 gives a description that for the first
time there aswose kama which had the
primeel germ of maas withi it. Similarly the word krtu is shown to be the antecedent of the word manas or prajna. In sat. bra 4.1.4.1. there a statemet that
when a man wishes, “may I do that may I have that,” that is Krtu, when he
attains it, that is Daksa. The same term later changed its meaning to manas and prajna. 5
The analysis of the Jaina
theory of mind shows that there has been a conflict between the metaphysical
and the psychological approaches to the problem. It is predominatly a realistic
approach. The mind and its stares are analysed on the empirical level. The
Jaina ideal is Moksa, freedom of the soul from the impurities of Karma. The
purity and the divinty of the soul to the basic concepts of the Jaina
philosophy, ad mind had to be linked with the soul ad interpreted in the metaphysical
terms.
The function of mind which is an inner
organ, is knowing and thinking. Sthanaga
described it as samkalpa vyparavati. Anuvamisika gives
the citta vijnana as equivalent of the
manas: “ Citta manoveijanaam it I paryayah” The Viseasvasyakabhasya defines
manas in terms of menta processes.6 It is taken in the subtanitive sense. The Nyayakosa defines manas in the sense of the inner organ which controls the
mental functions.
It is difficult to define mind. If at all
it is to be defined, it is always in terms of its own processes. Even the
psychologists of the preset day find it difficult to give a definition of mind
without reference to the menta processess. Older psychologists meant by mind
something that expresses its nature, powers and functions in the modes of
individual experiences and of bodil activity. Mc Dougall also says that wr are
boung to postulate that “something” ; ad “I do not thing”, he writes, “that we
ca find a better word to denote something than the old fashioned word mind.” 7 Mcdougall defines mind as an orgaized system
pre-secintific concept. It covers the whole field of interna experiece.8
The Jainas didi not merelu postulate the
existaence of mind without any evidece. They found the evidence in the
experiences fo the world. They also give the empirical proof for the operation
of the mind. The contact of the sense organ with the soul alone does not give
cognition in the reevant experiences because there is the absence of manas something else is necessary for
the coginition, and that is the mind. Agaain, the mind has the functional
connotation which speaks for its nature. “just as speech signifies the function
of burning and the lifht shows the light.”9
Orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy
postulate the existence of mind as an interna sense organ. In the evidence of
cognition the contact of the soul with the sense organs in not sufficient. We
must posit the existence of manas, some
additional condition, which brings them together. For instance a man may not
hear a sound or see an object when the mind is pre-ocupied when the mind is
elsewhere as we read in the Upanisads. There is also the positive evidence in
the facts of memeory ad of experiences like pleasure and pain.10 Asmind is not tangible, the proof of mind
has always to be indirect, and not direct. McDougall infers the structure of
the mind from its functions. He writesthat we have to build up our description
of the mind by gathering all possible facts of human experience and behabiour,
and by inferring from these the nature and structure of mind. He thus makes a
distinction between the facts of menta activities ad the facts of mental
structure. It is comparable to the sturcture and the functions of the
mechanical joy; ad one who wishes to ascertain the nature of the machinery
within it, ca only watch it movemet under carious condiditons.11
Mind is characterise by mental processes
ike doubtig, imagaining, dremaing and expercting. It is also characterised by
pleasure and pain and desires. These are the distinguishing marks of
mind.12 The Nandisutra describes mind as that which grasps everything saarvartha- grahanam manah .13 In the Tattavarthasutra, we are told that
cognition of what is stated on authority, as in scripturesis is the object of
mind srutam anindriyasa.14 In maitri Upanisad mind is described I its
reflective aspect as source of all mentalmodifications. He sees by mind by mind
he hears, and by mind too, he experiences all that we call desire, will and
belilef, resolution, irresolutio. All this is but mind itself.15 In modern psychology also , wundt says that
mind will be the subject “to whih we attribute all theseparate facts of
internal experience.” Mind , in the popular thought, is ot simply a subject in
the logial sense, but a sustance in real being, ad the various activities of
the mind are its expressions or notions. But this invlves, he says, some
metaphysical presuppositions. For him, mind is a logical concept of interal
experience.16 The Abhidhanarajendra metions that the word manas has a functional sifnificance,because it describes the
funtions of the mind like thinking, imagining ad expectiig.17 andfrom this functional significance of the
mind the srutcture of the mind is unferred. The Jaina thinkers make a distinction
between two phases of mind dravya manas and
bhava manas (manah divividham dravya
manah bhava-bhava-manas ca). In the visesavasyakabhasya,
we geta descroption of the tow phases of the manas. The materia mind which
may be called the menta structure, is composed of infiite, fineand coherent
particle fo matter meant for function of mind- dravyatah deavyamanah. It is further described as a collection of
fine particles which are meant for exciting thought processes due to the yoga
arising out of the contat of the jiva with the body.18 In the Gommatasara:
Jiva-kanada also there is a description of the material mind as produced in the
heart from the comingof mind molecules like a full blow lotus with eight
petals.19
Sucha description of mind as dravya manas and bhava manas, the srutctural and the psychical aspect, can be
compared to the descriptionof mind given by some modern philosophers. C.D.Broad
, in his Mindand its place in nature presents a similar view. It is a
modicication of the insturmental theory according to which mind is a substance
that is existentialy independet of the body. For Broad, mind is composed of
twofactors neither of which is ad for itself has the property of mind, but
which whe combined exhibits menta properties. The factors are the bodily and
the psychic factors. It is comparable to a chemical compound ike Nacl and
H20 in which the individual components
lose their individual identit when composed of living body possessed of I) the
nervous system and somethig else and ii) the psychic factor, which possesses
some feeling like mental.20 The bodily
factor is described as “the liig brain and the nervous system”. About the
psychic factor, Broad seems to be vague.21
Neithermental characteristics not mental evets seem to belong to it. It
is likely to be sentience only. However, the pshchic factor must be capable of
persistig for a period at least after tha death of the body; and it must be
capable, when separted from the body, of carryig ‘traces’ of experience which
happen to the mind of which it was formerly a constituent. In other words. It
must coprise the ‘mnemic mass’. Broad’s view comes nearer to the Buddhist vinana, rather to the Jaina view of bhava
manas. Of all the psychic factors in
the Buddhist view. Vinnaa has
morepermaent nature. I the Dighanikaya it is mentioned that agter death the
body is dissolved mind ceases, but vinnana,
the coefficent of the desire to enjoy, clings to produce its effects in
some other embryo waking wsewhere.22
with this differerene of the psychic factor the Jaina distinction
between the dravya manas ad the bhava
manas corresponds with Broad’s theory of the compositio of mind. In speakig of
the mental structure. Mcdougall has likened it to the structure of a machine.
Howeve, mcdougall also warns us that it shsould not be taken in the sense of material
structure of arrangement of parts. He likens it more to the compostiton of a
poem of music. “the structure of the mind is a sonceptual system that we have
to build up by inference from the date of the two orders , facts of behaviour
and the facts of intropection.”23 The
same ca be said of the composition of the manas.
Each Jiva has its own mind,aothough the
general nature of mindis one: mano
laksanatvena sarvamanasam ekatvat”because the essential nature of mind is
the expression of metal states. In the situation, the Fods, men and Asuras have
each his won mind. In the Rattavarthasutra, the classifiction of the souls,
five sensed organisms with minds, is mentioned; sajininah samanakah.25 In
the five- sensed organisms only some possess minds comparative psychologists
like akohler and Alverdes have shown that mind in the devrloped form is
possible in case of higher animals having insight. Naiyayaikas also believe
that each organism possesses a mind and sensitive organs in order that it may
be in a position to cognoze the objects and to experience pleasure and painin
accordance with past Karman. Each self has one mind, because a singel mind of
atomic magnitude cannot be shared by all. This mind in each self can funtion
only inside the organism with which the self is connected.26 if the Jiva was sarvagata, there would be cognition of everything by
everyone.27 Theirarguments were
metaphysical and epistemologial than pschological. But modern psychoogy has
analysed the same problem from te psychological pioint of view. McDougall
writes,” it seems probable that mind has the same nature wherever and whenever
it exists or manifests itself, whether in animals, men or superhuman beigs,
whether I the new-born infant, the fool or the wise man. On the other hand, the
structure of the mind seems to be peculiar to each individual;” not only is it
different in the various species of animals (if they hae minds) and in man; but
the structure of the mind of e man is different from that of every other man;
ad in any one man at each stage of his career or life-history, it is not quite
the same as at any other stage.28
The ancient Indian philosphers were faced
with problems concerning the instrumenta nature of the mind. It was generally
believed that like other sese organs, mind was also a sense orga, and the
instrumet of the soul. In the Upanisads we
fine references to the mind as one of the organs alongs with the other sense
and motor organs (jnanenduiyas and
Karmendriyas) 29 prasna
Upanisad mentions manas as a central organ. Reference to
the manas as the dirver of the ten organs I the Mairti Upanisad may also be
noted. Orthodox Hindu philsophy accepts mind as the internal organ. There were
some philosophers who made buddhi,
ahamkara and manas together to
consitute the interna organ atahkarana. But Jayanta believes that mind is an
internal organ. Similarlu, vidyanandi maintains that buddhi and ahamkara cannot be regarded as sense organs. The Nyaya
Vaishesikea philosophers regarded mind as the internal organ. But Gautama didi
not include it in the list of sense organs. Kanada is also silent. Vitsysyan
inclides manas under the senses. He calls it the inner sense by with we
apprehend the inner states by the instrumet of the maas. Vatsyayaa believes that mind is as good a sense orga as the
eye and the like , thought there are cetain differencaes. But the Jainas
believed that the mind is a no- indriya In the sense tha tit is different from the fice sese organs. Its
sense contents and functions are not entirely idetical with those of indriyas. The prefix here does not mean
not but is at times renderd as isa. It is a quasi sense organ. Still they
accept the instrumental fucntion of the mind. In the Gommatasara : Jivakanda we get a descriptio of mind as the no-indriya. It is through the mind that
meta knowledge and mentao activity arise. But in the case of the mind there is
no external manifestatio as in the case of other sense organs. The function of
mind is assimilative.30 Thepramana
mimamsa describes mind as the thing, which grasps everything. In the vrtti of the same it is said, the ‘mano’ nindriyam iti no indriyam iti
a ucyate”. 31 In the Rattavarthasutra, the function mind,
which is anindriya, is described as
the sruta congnition.the second
function is the mati and its modifications.32
it is caed the organ of apprehension of all objects because all sense
experiences are apprehended by the mind. The Jainas accepted the insrtumental
nature ( karanatva) of the mind. But
it is said that the karana is of two
types – bahya karana and antahakarana ad eve the dravya- manas is described as the atahkaraa, the internal organ. Being the internal organ it is
different from the other sense organs.33
however such a dwescripiton of need not be interpreted in the sense that
acording to the Jaina view,mind is not a sense organ; in fact it is more thatn
s sense organ. It is sarvarthagrahanam, at is stated in the praanamimamsa.
ii. In the Dravyasamgradha, Nemicandra says that soul in its pure form has
the quality of conciousness. Brahmadeva,in his commentary, writes that fro the
ultimate points of view, Jiva is distingushed by its quality of consciousness.
34 It is most direct and nearest
reality of which any one who has introspected is most immediately aware.
Consciousness has been the most important
of discussion for philosophers, psychologists as wel as scientists. Attempts
have been made to solve the problem from various angles. In the Aitareya Aranyaka, an effort is madae to
understand th diffenent stages of the development of consciousness I the
universe. In the evolution of herbs, trees and all that is animal, he atman is gradually developing. In the
herbs, only sap is seen; in the animated beings, citta is sees; in man there
gradual development of atman , for he
is now endowed with prajna.35 similarly, I n the Chandogyopanisad, prajapati describes the progressive
identification of atma with body cnscuousness. The psycho- physiologial method
is adopted in the Taittiriya.36 finally , the atman as jananamaya ad aanadamya
is emphasized. The Jaina cassification of the Jivas places the problem of the
evolution of consciousness on the scienitfic basis. Jivas have bee classified into one, tow three, four and ifve
sensed according to the number of the sense organs possessed by the Jivas possessing
the five seses are divided into those havig mind and those without mind. It is
now realized that the rise of consciounness is late in the evoluton of life,
from physical evloution to the evloution of life mind and conscounsness.
Cetana as a sundmental quality of the soul
is pure consciousness, a king of fame without smoke. This consciousness is
eternal, although it gets manifested in the course of the evolitionary porcess
of life in the empirica sense. This emprital cnsiousness arises from the cotact
of the sense organs with the obejcts. Centana in its pure form gets emobdied
with the Atama and ces into contact with empriical life with the sense organs
and objects. It manifests itself in the form of jana and darsaa. Jnana and Darsaa are therefore aspetcs of cetaa ad cetana is the springboard froj
which they arise. It is like the flood of light in which objects are iluminated
.it is the psychic background and the psychic halo of cogition in its two
aspects jnana and darsana. Cetana, thererore
is the light of conscounsess that the soul possesses ad throught this lifht the
cogition of objects arises.
The analysis of the states of
consciousness has been an important problem for philosphers as well as the
psychologists Consciounsesss has three aspects- the cognitive, the affective
and the conatie. They are modes of consciousness. It perceiveing, belieceing or
otherwise appreheding, that sch and a thing exists ad has characteristics’
one’s attitude is cognitive. In the aggective attitude oe is either pleased or
displeased about it and tries ot alter it I some respect. This attitude is
conative.37 but stout says that though these three modesof consciousness are
abstracty ad analyticaly distince phases I a concretetion from each othe r.
mind is an organic unity ad its activites have the ackisest degree of organic
inter-action. However, in every psychosis oe of the aspects may be predominat.
In the pleasure of pursuit, feetling presupposes cotaion. Sometimes feeling is
dependent on certain conative attitude invloved in the perceputal process.
Similar reciprocity is found in conation and cogition.
Idia thinkers wre aware of the distinction
of states in consiousness. The Jainas recognize three forms of consciousness.
They make a distinction between consciousees as knowig, as feetling and as
experiecing the fruits of Karma (karma-phala-cetana) and willng.38 conation and feeling are closely allied. As
a rule we have first feeling, next onation and then knowledge.39 mc Dougall has emphasized that feelig is the
core of al istinctive activity. In fact in al experience there is a core off
feeling, while the cogitive and conative aspects are varying factors. In the ajitareeya Upanisad there is metion of
differet modes of experiece. Sensation, perception ad ideaation are differet
modes of intellection. Perception and ideation are different modes of
intelection. It recognizes feeling and volition as the other two forms of
experience. The seers of Upanisads give a classification of seven meanta
functuon. 40 At the basis is intellection .the chandogyopanisad emphasizes the primacy of the will. The Buddhists
also recognozed such a distnction. We have perception or and ocnception,
feeling and affection, and conation or wil. In the Buddhist theory, will is the
most dominant aspect of conscious experience, the basa element of huma oife.
Radhakrishan in his indian phiolosphy
suggests the vijnana, vedana and samskara
roughly correspond to knowsedge, feeling and will.41 childers in his
dictionary brings the concept of conation under samaskara Mrs Rhys Davids believes that, although there is no clear
distinction betwee conation in the pshchlolgialsense and will in the ethical
sense, still in the pritaksas there is consistent discrimaination between
psychlogial importance and ethical imploication.42 professor stout has given up old tripartite clasification of
mental states and reverts to the ancient bipartite analysis of mind bringing
the affective and conative elements together under the name of interest.
Radhakrishanan syas that if we discard the separation of cognition and make it
the theoretial aspect of contation, we get to buddihist emphasis on contaion as
the central fact of mental life.
In the Nyaya-Vaisesika theory also there
is a description of the mainfestiation of the three aspects of self as
knowledge, desire ad vloition. We have to know a thing before we feel the wat
of it. In order to satisfy the want, we act thus, as Hiriyaa says, feelig
mediates between cognition and conation. Thus the modes of consciousness have
been the probelem of philosophers and psychologists. There is a genera
agreement regardig th ediision of consciousness into three modes, although
deffeet philosophers have emhasized different aspects in the concrete
psychosis. Buddhists have emphasized in the Chandorya and mariti
Upanisads.43 In the Chandogya again we
get a dwscription of the primacy of the will but this has reference to the
cosmic will rather than to its psychological aspect. The Jainas emphasize the
close ralation between conation and feeling. The Nyaya theory describes the
functio of feeling as a mediating factor between cognition and conation.
III.self-cpscopismess: The teem self-consciousness is very
ambiuous. It may mean conscuousness of the self, as an object igve in
introspectio. In this sense, the self, the empriical ego becoes both an aspect
of experience and also an object of esperience. Self-cosciousness. It is not an
object of knowledge. It is the ultimate subject presupposed in acts of
knowledge. Again consciousness may mean the ultimate eternal consciousness,
which is a metaphysical concept. It is also used in the emprirical sense as
consciouness which is changig.44some of the erlier philosphers have ot ade a
cear distinction between the metaphyusical and the pschologial sense of consciousness.
In the Upaisads, the atman is described as the basis and the absolute knower,
ad how ca the knower itself be known.45
it cannot becompreheded by intelect. It is the seer and the knower.46 yet higher intuito. It is knowable as th epratyagatmanma, apprehended by
adhyatmayoga.47 the Buddhists recogize the distinction between subject and
object within the consciousness. They do not believe I the transcendenta self.
Their view of consciousness is like the stream of consciousness of William
James. Yogacaras believe theat self is a series of caonition or ideas. There is
not self apart from cognition. They reeal neither the self ot the non-self.
Some
Nyaya philosophers, specially the eo-naiyayikas belileced that the sef is an
oject of interna perception manasapratyaksa.
The Caishesikas also maintain that, aoshtough the self is not an object of
perception but of infeence, it can be apprehended by Ypogic intuitin. The
samkhya philosophers maintain that consciousness is the essence of sef. It is
self-intuition. Self is inferred through its reglection in buddhi. But patanjali accepts the supernorma intuiton of the self
through the power of concetration. The self can know itsef through its
reflcetio it its pure sattva and
alsowhe mixed with rajas and tamas by supernormal itution (pratibha-jnana). So, the pure self can know the emprical self, but
the eprirical self cannot know the pure self. There is the contradiction
involved in the self-being both subject and object and the reflection
theorydoes not uch improe the situatuion. Cacaspati tries to avoid the
cotradiction by saying that transcedental self is the subject, and the
empriical self-the object, of self-apprehension.
According to prabhakara,
self in necessarily known in every act of cognition. Cognition is self-
liminous. it not ony manifests itself but also supports the atma much as the fame and the wick.
Neither the self not the object is sef- luminous. There can be consuciousness
of a object without the consiousness of the self. In every act of cognition
ther eis a direct and immediate apprehension of te self. But the self can never
be known as object of knowledge. It is ony to be known as a subject it is
receled by triputa samvit.