Jain Science and Spirituality
by Medhavi Jain | 2020 | 61,419 words
This essay studies the elements of Jainism and investigates how Jain science and philosophy can give the world answers to through science and spirituality. Instead of interpreting it as a confined, strict philosophy, it is shown that Jainism represents a path towards self-awakening through self-improvement....
1.5. Paramanu, Pudgala Karma and Soul as Substances
Science does not talk about emotions as they can only be felt, quite visibly, by each one of us. We feel positive emotions like love and affection towards some and negative towards others.
No one would raise a finger on their existence.
‘Conversely with standard physics where one deals with matter in time and space organize frameworks, in Jain science it is the soul which is to be contemplated in terms of time, space and matter. These all are viewed as 'substances.’[1]
This is the unique and outstanding feature of Jain philosophy that the soul is also considered as a substance, the only one that carries consciousness. One may wonder if all the focus of modern science would be to find the smallest indivisible unit of consciousness, would not that be revolutionary?
It feels wonderful when one is able to join the substance (paramanu in this context) with the consciousness.
Karma is not an abstract concept rather a physical reality.
‘Karmic matter on a defiled soul is comprised of a fine matter called karmons, and there are a boundless number of karmons.’[2]
And these are the assets a soul has, which travels with it, no matter where it goes, even after death.
‘The idea of soul rests in its scholarly capacities (upayoga), which by methods for will and expertise are put to use in all potential outcomes of intellectual cognition. The matter causes the souls to possess (grahana) the bodies and to perform bodily functions. They possess all characteristics of colour (black, dark, red, yellow, white), of taste (unpleasant, sharp, astringent, sour, sweet), of smell (great, awful), and of tangible ness (heavy, light, soft, rough, cold, warm, sticky, dry).’[3]
Matter that comes in form of karma inevitably supports the consciousness to perform each activity, be it good, bad or neutral.
‘The spirit has the qualities of cognizance including happiness, vitality, knowledge and perception components; pudgala has its attributes of inertia, contact, flavour, smell and colour. The significant guideline is that every quality delivered by rudimentary particles experiences steady changes of mode alongside its particular continuum. Subsequently, matter and energy might be viewed from the Jain angle as one and something very similar, for example sound, light, heat, and so on are types of matter but their mode is energy.’[4]
The beauty lies in the fact that whatever the soul has to express, it does through pudgala (non-living matter), be it the body, language, dreams or passion.
‘In Jain teachings, the mind is viewed as the sixth sense, made up of matter which goes about as a processor of contribution from the five faculties and it ought not be mistaken for consciousness, the knowledge and observation components.’[5]
Often we use this phrase in our daily language that we must give priority to heart over brain, but it’s not the heart but mind and also the brain must be replaced by the consciousness (as brain is only a physical organ, whereas mind has both abstract as well as physical presence and the soul being the main doer) hence this phrase should be rephrased as: ‘we must give priority to soul over mind.’
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
LJ. pp. 104
[3]:
TDTJ. pp. 128
[4]:
LJ. pp. 105
[5]:
LJ. pp. 106