Dr. N.L. Kachhara
As stated above, the worldly soul is impure. The presence of impurities in the soul can be explained in a simple manner. When you stand in front of a mirror you see your image. The image is not real, it is virtual; but it appears to be real. When you move away, the image disappears, as the mirror has no arrangement to store the image: in fact, the mirror is only a reflecting surface and it is light that forms the image. In the case of an organism, it is assumed that the soul acts as a mirror. The image of the object is stored in the soul and remains in its memory, even when the object is removed or moves away. This is an example of the use of the sense of sight. The soul has been interacting with the environment with all five senses and the mind, and the images so formed are stored on each interaction. Over the period of time of its life journey, the soul has stored a very large amount of images, which are present as impurity. The structure created by the collection of these images, known as bhava karma, is virtual but it has a real effect on the soul. This simple explanation is for easy understanding; the actual mechanism of the formation of impurities is based on the principle of karma, which is the subject of another chapter.
We need to understand the structure and functioning of the impure soul in a little more detail. Initially, the beginning less soul is in the nityanigoda mode (jivas in the most elemental life form), having the highest impurity. Nityanigoda jivas exist in the bottom-most part of loka. This is the inactive state of the soul. At the appropriate time the soul comes out of nityanigoda and assumes its active form and thereafter its impurity changes with time due to changes in karmic load. Figure 1.
Figure 1: State of impure soul at different times. The intensity of the shade shows degree of impurity.
The impurity, which is also part of the soul, consists of kashayas (passions), ajnana (ignorance), etc. and exists as some kind of virtual structure that changes with the level of impurity and time. The soul at any instant can be viewed as a composite of pure soul, or pure consciousness, and impurity, or impure consciousness, which is also some aspect of the soul. Figure 2 depicts these two aspects of the soul, with the shaded part representing impurity. The soul and the impurities are co-extensive and occupy the same space, but for the purpose of illustration we have shown the impurity in different sizes to demonstrate its magnitude. It may be noted that impurities are not spatially distinct from the soul and both are non-corporeal.
Figure 2: Soul and impurity at different times; the size of the impurity represents its magnitude and the shade represents its quality.
Represents the state of the soul at three different times with different amounts of impurity. The impurity is highest at t=t0, the nityanigoda state, and becomes progressively less at t=t1 and t=t2 in its journey.
Technically, these impurities are bhava karmas. As karmas shed and the impurities decrease, there is change in quantity as well as in quality. The pure soul, being non-corporeal, is a non-doer: it cannot perform any physical act. The source of all actions, mental, verbal and physical, is the impurities, so the impure soul is regarded as a doer.
There are two ways to describe the existence of the worldly soul:
- In the first kind of description, no distinction is made between the soul and the impurities. The worldly functions, comprising mental, verbal and physical actions, are performed by the impure soul. The passions are also generated in this soul and these passions lead to the bonding of karma, and changes in the state of the soul. As a result, the impure soul experiences continuous transformation as shown in Figure 1.
- In the second kind of description, as shown in Figure 2, the soul is separate from the impurities and it is assumed that the pure soul does not undergo transformations in its state: changes take place in the impurities only. This indicates that the pure soul remains unaffected; the source is, and the changes are experienced by the impurities: impure consciousness is the cause of changes and it also experiences the effects of the changes. The passions are generated in the impure consciousness, and they affect the actions of impure soul.
The first kind of description, focusing on the modes of the soul, is called the vyavaharanaya, the empirical or relative view. In this approach, the soul is the doer and experiences the consequences. The second kind of description, focusing on the unchanging soul substance, is called the nishchayanaya, or the absolute view. In this approach, the pure soul is considered to be a non-doer and non-experiencer of the consequences; doing and experiencing the results of actions are attributed to the impurities or the impure virtual structure of the soul. It may be noted that both views of the soul are correct; each views reality in a particular way. The second approach helps in understanding that at any instant the pure soul is distinct from its impurity, and when all impurities are eliminated only the pure soul is left, which is the liberated state. However, it must be kept in mind that these impurities could not exist without the soul. Jainism believes that impurities are associated with the soul from the beginning less past, and at no time in the past was the soul without impurities. The second approach may sometimes lead to the erroneous impression that, being non-doer, the soul is not responsible for worldly suffering. Though the pure soul is non-doer, the soul associated with impurities is a doer and performs worldly functions and suffers their consequences. However, the first approach does not mean that the soul is capable of controlling every action of the physical body and mind: some actions originate in physical existence (the karman body, tejas body, mind and physical body) and some actions in the soul, bhava karma. These aspects are discussed in later chapters.
Three states of soul are described in Jainism: bahiratman, external soul; antaratman, internal soul; and paramatman, the supreme soul. Looking outwards, the external soul is not aware of its real existence and in a state of illusion identifies itself with the body, owns the external objects, animate and inanimate, that are in its possession and enjoys worldly pleasures, and pains, through the senses and the mind. The internal soul, looking inward, realizes its real existence, regards the body as external and disowns external objects. It knows that the worldly pleasures experienced through the senses and mind are temporary and that real, permanent pleasure is within. Such a soul makes efforts to remove the impurities that were causing the illusion. The supreme soul has eliminated all of the impurities causing this illusion and has attained its natural state of unlimited bliss and perfect knowledge and perception.
The model presented in Figure 2 helps to define these three kinds of soul. In the case of external soul, the impure consciousness is conscious of its impurities, i.e. both the subject and the object are impurities. The soul is in a state of illusion and identifies itself with the impurities; forgetting the real self, it thinks that this is its real identity. The soul, not conscious of its real existence, identifies with non-soul-like passions, the body, etc. This is the lowest state of the soul this case can be compared with the materialistic view of life in which an organism is considered to only consist of the body, denying the existence of the soul. The (impure?) consciousness, then, is assumed to be an emergent property: it emerges on the combination of the body matter and disappears on death, when the body decomposes. In this view of life, the concept of rebirth and karma is not recognized.
In the case of internal soul, either the impure consciousness is conscious of the pure soul or the pure soul is conscious of the impurities. Both of these possibilities exist in the case of internal soul and either of them can occur at any one time. The soul in this case avoids indulging in malevolent acts, papa, and engages in performing benevolent acts and eradicating the impurities.
The supreme soul is conscious of itself all the time, i.e. both the subject and object are the pure soul. The soul knows that the body is different, and since the psychical impurities causing illusion have been removed, there is nothing to stop the manifestation of the natural properties of the soul. In this state, the soul is called paramatman. Two types of paramatman have been recognized in Jaina texts, Arhantaparmatman and Siddhaparamatman. Arahantaparmatman is an embodied state that still has some minimal biological impurities, but has destroyed all psychical karmas enabling the soul to experience natural bliss and the manifestation of perfect knowledge and perception. Tirthankara is Arahantaparamatman who, experiencing the absolute truth in all its aspects, teaches his disciples and followers the reality of life and the world and the ways to achieve emancipation. Siddhaparamatman is body-less and free from all karmas, and exists as pure jiva substance. In this case, the soul is in its natural state and is free from the influences of matter. On reaching this state, the soul will never have a body again and it experiences all of its natural attributes without any obstruction, forever.
