Samayasara OR Nature of Self

SR No.: 011119
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 406
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 133

CXXX11
SAMAYASARA
This autonomic fludity of an object of reality is what is implied by the technical term Dravya which is applied to any class of objects constituting the Realty This Dravya is defined thus: Guna Paryayavat Daravyaha-that which has characteristic qualities and that which is undergoing constant modifications is what is called Dravya The general illustration of a dravya given in textbooks is the substance, gold. This dravya-gold-has got its characteristic quality of yellowness, brilliance, malleability, etc, and it may be made into several ornaments One ornament of gold may be changed into another ornament if the owner so desires. The changing form into which this substance, Gold, shall be constituted is its mode The substance, gold, out of which these ornaments are made is the Dravya and the characteristic attributes of yellowness etc., constitute its Guna. Here also the conception of Dravya is peculiar to the Jaina Darsana, and to a very large extent differs from the conceptin of Dravya found in the other Non-Jaina Darsanas. The substance and qualities cannot be separated. Dravya and Guna are inseparable and yet the substance is not the same as its attributes nor the attributes same as the substance, though it is a fact it is the substance that manifests this nature through its attributes Substance without attributes and attributes dissociated from the underlying substance would all be meaningless abstractions. Guna cannot exist apart from the Dravya nor the Dravya apart from the gunas. A real dravya is that which manifests through its Gunas and real gunas are those that have their roots in the underlying dravya. Gunas which are not based upon the underlying Dravya, whose manifestations they are, would be merely sensory illusions having no claim to the status of reality. Hence in the world of reality there can be no separate existence either of Dravya or Guna from each other. It may be clearly seen that according to Jaina Darsana, the systems which speak of a real existence without Gunas, Nirguna or of Gunas existing separately from the substance till they are brought together by a third entity called Samavaya, are erroneous philosophical views not corroborated by facts of reality. As we shall see later on, according to this conception even Chetana or Soul or Atma cannot separate its quality of Chetana or consciousness