Jain Niti Darshan Ke Manovaigyanik Adhar

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided Jain text, "Jain Niti Darshan ke Manovaigyanik Adhar" (Psychological Basis of Jain Ethical Philosophy) by Sagarmal Jain, focusing on its core arguments and concepts:

Overall Goal: The book aims to demonstrate that Jain ethical philosophy (Niti Darshan) is deeply rooted in psychological principles, explaining its concepts of the ultimate goal (Saadhya), the practitioner (Saadhak), and the path of practice (Saadhana) through a psychological lens.

Core Arguments and Concepts:

1. The Interplay of Ethics and Psychology:

   • Shared Subject: Both moral philosophy and psychology study behavior.
   • Distinct Functions: Psychology studies the factual nature of behavior and consciousness. Moral philosophy, however, determines the ideal (Saadhya) of behavior and evaluates it.
   • Ideal and Fact: The book asserts that determining an ideal cannot disregard facts. What we should be is dependent on what we are and our inherent capabilities. An unattainable ideal would be an illusion. Jain philosophy, the author argues, understands this psychological truth and builds its ethical system on a solid foundation of practice.

2. The Psychological Basis of Consciousness and Ethics:

   • Three Aspects of Consciousness: Jain philosophy, aligning with psychological insights, views consciousness as having three interconnected aspects: Knowledge (Gyan), Experience/Feeling (Anubhuti/Bhav), and Resolution/Will (Sankalp/Charitra).
   • Ethical Ideals and Consciousness: These three aspects of consciousness are directly related to the determination of ethical ideals.
   • Moksha as the Ideal: The ultimate goal in Jainism is Moksha, which is described as the achievement of the Ananta Chatushtaya (the four infinities): Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Perception, Infinite Bliss, and Infinite Power.
   • Moksha as Fulfilled Consciousness: Moksha is essentially the perfection of these three aspects of consciousness:
     • Infinite Knowledge/Perception corresponds to the cognitive aspect.
     • Infinite Bliss corresponds to the affective/experiential aspect.
     • Infinite Power corresponds to the volitional/resolute aspect.
   • The Path of Practice: The Jain path of practice (Saadhana) is also structured around the balanced development of these three elements: Samyak Gyan (Right Knowledge), Samyak Darshan (Right Perception), and Samyak Charitra (Right Conduct/Resolution), often supported by Samyak Tapa (Right Austerity).

3. The Nature of the Moral Agent (Saadhak):

   • Deep Analysis of Human Nature: Jainism provides a profound analysis of human and sentient nature.
   • Samattva (Equanimity) as the Core: Lord Mahavir's teaching that the soul is Samattva (equanimity, balance, impartiality) and that Samattva is the soul's goal is presented as psychologically true. Life, in essence, is a continuous effort to establish Samattva.
   • Balance and Adjustment: Establishing balance at physical and mental levels is the goal of life. Life is a process of dynamic equilibrium, constantly trying to re-establish balance against environmental disturbances. This effort for balance and adjustment is the fundamental characteristic of life, not struggle.
   • Struggle vs. Equilibrium: The text critiques evolutionary thinkers (Spencer, Darwin, Marx) who emphasize struggle as the nature of life. It argues that true human nature is the resolution of struggle, leading to a state of Samattva. Human history is seen not as a history of struggle, but as a history of the resolution of struggles.
   • Samattva as the Ideal: Samattva is the true ideal of human life because it is our inherent nature, and whatever is our nature is our ideal.

4. The Goal of Moral Life: Establishment of Samattva:

   • Samattva and Well-being: Samattva is considered auspicious (Shubh), while imbalance (Vishmta), such as attachment (Kamna), desire (Aasakti), likes/dislikes (Rag-Dvesh), and rumination (Vitarka), are considered inauspicious (Ashubh).
   • Detachment and Balance: The state of being free from desires, rumination, attachment, and a state of detachment (Vitraagta) is moral, auspicious, and the ideal because it represents the state of Samattva.
   • Spiritual Balance: Samattva is an spiritual balance. The tendencies of attachment and aversion disturb this balance. Rising above them to achieve Vitraagta is the true state of Samattva.
   • Convergence with Modern Psychology: Both Jain philosophy and modern psychology recognize Samattva as the ultimate goal of human life.

5. The Goal of Moral Life: Self-Fulfillment (Aatm-Purnata):

   • Moksha as Self-Fulfillment: Moksha is also the state of self-fulfillment. Absolute Samattva requires self-fulfillment, as incompleteness or lack creates mental stress.
   • Desire for Perfection: Human efforts are directed towards developing the cognitive, affective, and volitional powers of consciousness to overcome temporal and spatial limitations. Individuals naturally seek the perfection of these capacities.
   • Overcoming Limitations: The innate human desire to escape limitations and incompleteness is what Jain philosophy expresses as Moksha. The awareness of our incompleteness is a pointer to our inherent completeness.
   • Inherent Potential: Jain philosophy states that the soul is inherently complete (possesses the four infinities). This completeness is our potential. Recognizing our incompleteness highlights our innate potential, but doesn't constitute its achievement.
   • Manifestation of Soul Powers: Self-fulfillment means the development of knowledge, feeling, and resolution into Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Bliss, and Infinite Power. It is the unfolding and complete manifestation of innate soul powers.
   • Psychological Basis of Self-Fulfillment: The ethical goal of self-fulfillment in Jainism is also based on the psychological analysis of human consciousness.

6. The Interrelationship of Goal, Practitioner, and Practice:

   • Identity of Goal and Practitioner: Jain ethical philosophy considers the goal (Saadhya) and the practitioner (Saadhak) to be essentially non-different.
   • Soul as Both: The soul is both the practitioner and the goal. The difference lies in its state: when the soul is subject to passions (Kashayas) and senses, it is bound (Samsar); when it conquers them, it is liberated (Moksha).
   • Purity vs. Impurity: The soul's state tainted by the "impurities" of desires is its bondage, while its pure state is liberation. Attachment is bondage, and non-attachment is liberation – a psychological truth.
   • State of Being: The practitioner's state is a modified state of the soul (Vibhav Paryaya), while the goal state is the soul's natural state (Swabhav Paryaya).
   • Inner Potential: The goal is not something to be acquired, but something to be manifested from within. It is the full expression of inherent qualities.
   • Transformation of Potential: The difference between the practitioner and the liberated state is not just in abilities, but in the transformation of abilities into competencies. Just as a seed becomes a tree, the soul's inherent qualities are fully manifested in the liberated state. The knowledge, feeling, and resolution of the practitioner become Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Perception, Infinite Bliss, and Infinite Power in the liberated state.
   • From Modified to Natural State: The soul in its modified state (Vibhav) is bound and incomplete; in its natural state (Swabhav), it is liberated and complete. The journey from the modified to the natural state is the practice. In the modified state, the soul is individual; in the natural state, it is universal (Paramatma); and in the process of moving towards it, it is a great soul (Mahatma).

7. The Path of Practice and the Goal:

   • Inseparability of Path and Goal: Just as the practitioner and the goal are non-different, so are the path of practice and the goal.
   • Consciousness as Path and Goal: The soul's knowledge, feeling, and resolution, when directed in the right way (Samyak), become the path of practice. When these perfected, they become the goal.
   • The Eightfold Path Analogy (Simplified): Jain practice involves Samyak Gyan, Samyak Darshan, Samyak Charitra, and Samyak Tapa. When these lead to the realization of the Four Infinities (Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Power), this becomes the state of perfection (Siddhi).
   • Manifestation Through Practice: The cognitive aspect manifests Infinite Knowledge through Right Knowledge; the experiential aspect achieves Infinite Perception through Right Perception; the volitional aspect achieves Infinite Bliss through Right Conduct; and the active capacity achieves Infinite Power through Right Austerity.
   • Nature of Practice: The very essence of the practitioner's consciousness, when refined into right knowledge, perception, and conduct, becomes the path, and its perfection is the goal.

8. Motivational Factors in Human Behavior (Jainism and Psychology):

   • Rag and Dvesh as Core: Jainism identifies Rag (attachment/desire) and Dvesh (aversion/hatred) as the seeds of karma, with Rag being primary. Attachment (Aasakti) is the motivational force for karma.
   • Shared Understanding of Motivation: Both Jainism and modern psychology agree that vasana (desire/instinct) is the fundamental driver of human behavior.
   • Classification of Motivations:
     • Western Psychology: Freud considered sex/desire as the sole motivator, while others list up to 100. Common classifications include 14 basic tendencies (flight, disgust, curiosity, aggression, self-esteem, inferiority, maternity, gregariousness, acquisitiveness, constructiveness, alimentiveness, sexuality, protest, and mirth).
     • Jain Philosophy (Sanna/Conceptions): The term "Sanna" (conception) in Jain scriptures refers to motivational factors. It is the mental consciousness of physical needs and feelings that motivates subsequent behavior. It can be equated to "basic tendency" to some extent.
     • Jain Classifications of Sanna:
       • Four-fold: Food, Fear, Possession, Sexual union.
       • Ten-fold: Adds Anger, Pride, Deceit, Greed, and "Ogha" (likely a broader category of worldly inclinations).
       • Sixteen-fold: Includes the above plus pleasure, pain, delusion, doubt, grief, public opinion, religion, and "Ogha."
   • Overlap and Differences: The first classification focuses on physical drives. The last includes intellectual, mental, and social drives. Some classifications include Kashayas (passions). The difference between Sanna and Kashaya is like the difference between a basic drive and its accompanying emotion (e.g., aggression as a drive vs. anger as an emotion). There is significant similarity between Jain "Sanna" and Western "basic tendencies."

9. The Hedonistic Viewpoint in Jainism:

   • Pleasure and Pain as Drivers: Modern psychology suggests pleasure is linked to life-force maintenance, and pain to its depletion. This pleasure-pain principle drives all sentient behavior. Jain philosophers also accept this principle: attraction towards the favorable and repulsion from the unfavorable is the nature of the senses.
   • Desire and Behavior: Desire (Vasanā) manifests as pleasure (in its fulfilling form) and pain (in its obstructionist form). Thus, desire regulates behavior.
   • Spiritual Happiness: Jainism also recognizes a spiritual happiness beyond physical pleasures, obtained through the cessation of desires.

10. The Concept of Suppression (Daman) and Jainism:

    • Sensory Restraint: Jainism emphasizes sensory control.
    • Modern Psychology's View: Modern psychology sees complete sensory inhibition as unnatural. Senses naturally engage with their objects (e.g., eyes see beauty, tongue tastes, nose smells).
    • Jainism's Stance on Suppression: Jainism's view aligns with modern psychology's skepticism about true suppression. It argues that the meaning of sensory control is not to avert senses from their objects, but to eliminate the attachment and aversion associated with the consumption of those objects.
    • Beyond Suppression: Transcendence: The text clarifies that sensory control doesn't mean turning away from sensory experiences but rather attaining a state of Vitraagta (detachment) or Samattva (equanimity) even within those experiences.
    • "Upshamik" vs. "Kshayik" Paths:
      • Upshamik (Pacifying): This path involves the suppression of desires. In psychological terms, it's a path of repression.
      • Kshayik (Destructive): This path involves the elimination or eradication of desires, rising above them. This is mental purification, not mere suppression.
    • Rejection of Suppression as True Sadhana: Jain philosophy explicitly states that a practitioner who progresses by suppressing desires will inevitably fall from higher stages of development. A practitioner who relies on pacification or suppression may reach near the ultimate goal but will fall back to the lowest state of ignorance (Mithyatva).
    • True Path is Eradication: The true path of practice is not suppressing desires but transcending them. It's about detachment from sensory experiences, not the absence of those experiences.

Conclusion:

The book strongly argues that Jain ethical philosophy is deeply grounded in psychological principles. The Jain understanding of consciousness, the ideal of Samattva (equanimity), the pursuit of self-fulfillment, and the emphasis on transcending desires (rather than suppressing them) are presented as psychologically sound and aligned with modern psychological insights. The entire framework of Jain ethics – its goals, practitioners, and practices – is viewed as a sophisticated psychological understanding of human nature and its potential for liberation and perfection.