Jainism - Introduction

Extract from Panchasti~kaya~sara English commentary

by Late Prof.A.Chakravarthy Nainar (1880-1960)

Bharatiya Jnanpith Publication

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Conception of Motion

Jaina Metaphysics

The Six Dravyas

Dravya, Guna and Paryaya

Jaina Biology

Praanas

Different Kinds of Births

Jaina Psychology

Soul and Body

Sensations and Sense organs

Analysis of Sensations

Sense Perception

Jnana or knowledge

Affection

Conation or the Consciousness of Action

Jaina Logic

Nayas

Saptabhangi

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Jaina system of thought is so peculiarly consistent with modern realism and modern science, that one may be tempted to question its antiquity. Still it is a fact, that such a system flourished in India several centuries before the Christian era.

The realistic tendency in oriental philosophy is not peculiar to Jainism. From the very early days, we find the principle of interpreting life and the Universe running side by side with the idealistic one. During the Vedic period we find noting but gross form of Realism. The Vedit Gods were but magnified human beings sharing all the weaknesses and foibles peculiar to mankind. When sacrifices were offered to Indra or Agni or Vayu or Varuna with chanting of hymns, there could be no trace of any suspicion as to the reality of the world around. Not only the world of Nature was taken to be real but many of its elements were imaged after man. No doubt we find a unifying tendency as an undercurrent of the Vedic thought. No doubt the Vedic Devas were subordinated to the one creative principle of the Universe, Prajapathi.

But this wonderful period of primitive culture is followed by a barren age of sheer ceremonialism. The period of the Brahmanas is marked by sacrificial technique. Elaborate formulae were invented for the conduct of sacrifices. Ceremonialism took the place of Poetic effusions. This led to the ascendency of the priestly class. The sacrificial master or Yajamana has to engage his priests, paying heavy fees or daksinas. Religious devotion during this period degenarated into petty commercialism. But this state of things did not last long. While the priests were further elaborating the ceremonial formulae the work of investigating the true nature reality was taken up by another band of thinkers. By this time the homogenious Aryan tribe split up into different castes. Of these sects the Ksatriyas or the warrior class have learned the secrets of Reality. They have introduced a new philosophical cult known as Brahmavidya. The Brahmavidya must have originally referred to certain spiritual intuitions obtained through introspection. Man discovered himself for the first time. The inner spiritual priciple, the Atman is taken to be the Reality. It is neither the body nor the senses. It is something behind and beyond the corporeal frame. It is that which hears but is not heard. It is that which sees but is not seen. It is that which makes the operation of the senses possible while itself is beyond sense-apprehension. This spiritual principle was indifferently called Atman or Brahman. Like the Phythogorians of Greece, the Indian thinkers kept their metaphysical cult as a secret. The Ksatriyas who were the discoverers and custodians of the New Thought imparted it only to the deserving few. This upanisadic cult, for so was it named, soon replaced the earlier ceremonialism. The Jnana-kanda superseded the Karma-kanda as the parth of Self-Realisation. Even the priests, discounting their ceremonial technique, flocked to the Royal courts to be initiated into the new mysteries.

Thus the age was one of intense discussion, research and self-introspection. During this period again, we have the seeds of the different philosophycal systems constructed in the succeeding period. No doubt Yajnavalkya is a towering personality of the Upanishadic age. No doubt he attempted reconciliation between the old and the new. In his hands the new wisdom appeared as distinctly monistic. But that current which is evidently the source of the later Vedantic stream was only one of the many currents of the Upanishadic wisdom. This is very well substantiated by the different systems constructed subsequent to the age. The philosophical systems in India are mainly of two classes, the orthodox and the heretic. The six Darsanas; Purva mimamsa, Uttara mimamsa or Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika constitute the orthodox systems. The heretical systems are Buddhism, Jainism, the philosophy of the Carvakas and Barhaspatyas. Of course this classification does not mean anything but that it was made by Brahminical scholars. 'Orthodox' and 'heretical' are terms mainly based upon the attitude towards the Vedas. Kapila's Sankhya is nirisvara and is allied to Jainism and Buddhism in its opposition to Vedic sacrifices. Purva-mimamsa rejects the creator and creation as Vyavaharic and hence the result of maya. There is a good deal of truth in the statement that it is merely Buddhism in disguise. Hence the traditional classsification is justified neither by philosophical nor religious criterion.

Of these different systems which represent the post-Upanishadic thought, the Vedanta alone has become prominent. But students who study impartially the other systems will realise the importance of their contributions to Indian thought and culture.

The supermacy of Vedanta over the systems, which are to a very great extent realistic, is not a thing to congratulate ourselves. For, realism is generally allied to science and many of the scientific theories pertaining to the constitution of the physical world are associated with these realistic schools, e.g., the atomic theory of Nyaya and Vaisesika schools. Idealism even in the West either openly or covertly has been antagonistic to the interests of Science. Hence any attempt to escape from the hypnotic illusion of a powerful Idealism is to be welcomed by impartial students of Science and Philosophy.

It is not possible for us to examine in detail the several realistic schools of Indian Thought. Hence we shall confine ourselves to Jaina Philosophy which is generally neglected by many and misunderstood by the few who attempt to speak on it.