Soul Substance (jīva dravya) – As Expounded In Dravyasamgraha

Soul substance (jīva dravya) is ubiquitous but unseen. Driving force within each one of us, it has been, since time immemorial, a subject matter of research by philosophers, religious leaders and laity. Still, ambiguity and misconceptions prevail as regard its real nature. Some negate the existence of soul and attribute consciousness to the union of four basic substances – earth (prthvī), water (jala), fire (agni), and air (vāyu); death leads to its annihilation. Some believe it to be momentary, devoid of self-existence. Still others consider it a product of illusion (māyā) or ignorance (avidyā) as all objects are manifestations of Brahma; only the one eternally undivided Brahma exists. All such conceptions are based on absolutism like: existence (bhāvaikānta) and non-existence (abhāvaikānta), non-dualism (advaita-ekānta) and separateness (prthaktva-ekānta), and permanence (nityatva-ekānta) and momentariness (ksanika-ekānta). Jaina epistemology goes beyond the superficial and examines objects of knowledge from all possible points of view. It asserts that the entity (dharmī) and its attributes (dharma) are neither absolutely dependent (āpeksika) nor absolutely independent (anāpeksika). Only an entity which has general (sāmānya – concerning the substance, dravya) and particular (viśesa – concerning the mode, paryāya) attributes can be the subject of knowledge. Substance without its modification and modification without its substance cannot be the subject of valid knowledge; only their combination can be the subject of knowledge

Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s Samādhitantram = Supreme Meditation

Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s (circa 5th century CE) Samādhitantram is a spiritual work consisting of 105 verses outlining the path to liberation for the inspired soul. Living beings have three kinds of soul – the extroverted-soul (bahirātmā), the introverted-soul (antarātmā), and the pure-soul (paramātmā). The one who mistakes the body and the like for the soul is the extroverted-soul (bahirātmā). The extroverted-soul spends his entire life in delusion and suffers throughout. The one who entertains no delusion about psychic dispositions – imperfections like attachment and aversion, and soul-nature – is the introverted-soul (antarātmā). The knowledgeable introverted-soul disconnects the body, including the senses, from the soul. The one who is utterly pure and rid of all karmic dirt is the pure-soul (paramātmā). Samādhitantram expounds the method of realizing the pure-soul, the light of supreme knowledge, and infinite bliss. Realization of the pure-soul is contingent upon discriminatory knowledge of the soul and the non-soul, and meditating incessantly on the pure-soul, rejecting everything that is non-soul. Samādhitantram answers the vexed question, ‘Who am I?’ in forceful and outrightly logical manner, in plain words. No one, the ascetic or the householder, can afford not to realize the Truth contained in the treatise, comprehend it through and through, and change his conduct accordingly

Ācārya Umāsvāmī’s Tattvārthasūtra – With Explanation in English from Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s Sarvārthasiddhi

Ācārya Umāsvāmī’s (circa 1st century CE) Tattvārthasūtra (spelled commonly as Tattvarthsutra or Tattvarthasutra), also known as Mokşaśāstra, is the most widely read Jaina Scripture. It expounds the Jaina Doctrine, the nature of the Reality, in form of aphorisms (sūtra), in Sanskrit. Brief and to-the-point, Tattvārthasūtra delineates beautifully the essentials of all objects-of-knowledge (jñeya). Sarvārthasiddhi by Ācārya Pūjyapāda (circa 5th century CE) is the first and foremost extant commentary on Tattvārthasūtra. Sarvārthasiddhi is an exposition of the reality – the true nature of substances, soul and non-soul – the knowledge of which equips one to tread the path to liberation, as expounded in Tattvārthasūtra. There is beginningless intermingling of the soul (jīva) and the non-soul (ajīva) karmic matter. Our activities (yoga) are responsible for the influx (āsrava) of the karmic matter into the soul. Actuated by passions (kaşāya) the soul takes in particles of the karmic matter; this is bondage (bandha). Obstructing fresh inflow of the karmic matter into the soul – samvara – and its subsequent separation or falling off from the soul – nirjarā – are two important steps in attaining the infallible, utterly pristine, sense-independent and infinitely blissful state of the soul, called liberation (mokşa)

Ācārya Kundakunda’s Pravacanasāra – Essence of the Doctrine

Ācārya Kundakunda’s (circa 1st century BCE) Pravacanasāra is among the most popular Jaina Scriptures that are studied with great reverence by the ascetics as well as the laymen. Consciousness manifests in form of cognition (upayoga) – pure-cognition (śuddhopayoga), auspicious-cognition (śubhopayoga) and inauspicious-cognition (aśubhopayoga). Pure-cognition represents conduct without-attachment (vītarāga cāritra). Perfect knowledge or omniscience (kevalajñāna) is the fruit of pure-cognition (śuddhopayoga). The soul engaged in pure-cognition (śuddhopayoga) enjoys supreme happiness engendered by the soul itself; this happiness is beyond the five senses – atīndriya – unparalleled, infinite, and imperishable. Omniscience (kevalajñāna) is real happiness; there is no difference between knowledge and happiness. Delusion (moha), the contrary and ignorant view of the soul about substances, is the cause of misery. The soul with attachment (rāga) toward the external objects makes bonds with karmas and the soul without attachment toward the external objects frees itself from the bonds of karmas. The stainless soul knows the reality of substances, renounces external and internal attachments (parigraha) and does not indulge in the objects-of-the-senses

Money And Happiness

General perception that money can buy happiness has been refuted in this article

Ethnomedicinal Observations Among the Bheel and Bhilal Tribe of Jhabua District, Madhya Pradesh, India

The paper highlights uses of 15 ethnomedicinal plants traditionally utilized by the Bheel and Bhilala tribes of Jhabua district. The plant species are used as herbal medicines for treatment of various ailments and healthcare

Adamantinoma: A clinicopathological review and update

Adamantinoma is a primary low-grade, malignant bone tumor that is predominantly located in the mid-portion of the tibia. The etiology of the tumor is still a matter of debate. The initial symptoms of adamantinoma are often indolent and nonspecific and depend on location and extent of the disease. Histologically, classic adamantinoma is a biphasic tumor characterized by epithelial and osteofibrous components that may be intermingled with each other in various proportions and differentiating patterns. To assure the histological diagnosis, pathologists should employ immunohistochemistry for demonstrating the sometimes sparse epithelial cell nests when the radiological features are suggestive of adamantinoma. There is paucity of compiled data over adamantinoma in the literature, hence authors tried to make a comprehensive review which must be of use to beginners and trained pathologists. Our objective is to further define the clinicoradiologic features and pathologic spectra of adamantinoma

Feed Forward Artificial Neural Network: Tool for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

Pathological changes in an organ or tissue may be reflected in proteomic patterns in serum. The early detection of cancer is crucial for successful treatment. Some cancers affect the concentration of certain molecules in the blood, which allows early diagnosis by analyzing the blood mass spectrum. It is possible that exclusive serum proteomic patterns could be used to differentiate cancer samples from non-cancer ones. Several techniques have been developed for the analysis of mass-spectrum curve, and use them for the detection of prostate, ovarian, breast, bladder, pancreatic, kidney, liver, and colon cancers. In present study, we applied data mining to the diagnosis of ovarian cancer and identified the most informative points of the mass-spectrum curve, then used student t-test and neural networks to determine the differences between the curves of cancer patients and healthy people. Two serum SELDI MS data sets were used in this research to identify serum proteomic patterns that distinguish the serum of ovarian cancer cases from non-cancer controls. Statistical testing and genetic algorithm-based methods are used for feature selection respectively. The results showed that (1) data mining techniques can be successfully applied to ovarian cancer detection with a reasonably high performance; (2) the discriminatory features (proteomic patterns) can be very different from one selection method to another

Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Aptamimamsa (Devāgamastotra) = Deep Reflection On The Omniscient Lord

Aptamimamsa by Ācārya Samantabhadra (2nd century CE) starts with a discussion, in a philosophical-cum-logical manner, on the Jaina concept of omniscience and the attributes of the Omniscient. The Ācārya questions the validity of the attributes that are traditionally associated with a praiseworthy deity and goes on to establish the logic of accepting the Omniscient as the most trustworthy and praiseworthy Supreme Being. Employing the doctrine of conditional predications (syādvāda) – the logical expression of reality in light of the foundational principle of non-absolutism (anekāntavāda) – he faults certain conceptions based on absolutism. He finally elucidates correct perspectives on issues including fate and human-effort, and bondage of meritorious (punya) or demeritorious (pāpa) karmas

Ācārya Kundakunda’s Rayaṇasāra – The Quintessential Jewel आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित रयणसार

Ācārya Kundakunda’s (circa 1st century BCE) Rayaṇasāra makes it clear that the right-faith (samyagdarśana) is the beginning as well as the culmination of the path to liberation – mokṣa-mārga. The householder (śrāvaka) must first acquire the right-faith – the Quintessential Jewel (Rayaṇasāra) – to be able to establish his Self on to the path to liberation. As he acquires the right-faith he begins to appreciate the reality of the world and the worldly-existence. He then exerts to acquire the true knowledge (jñāna) as expounded in the Doctrine (siddhānta), and adopts the laudable conduct (cāritra) by becoming a digambara-ascetic (nirgrantha muni). He ascends the spiritual-stages (guṇasthāna) and ultimately, through pure-meditation (śukla-dhyāna), attains the ineffable and eternal bliss appertaining to liberation (mokṣa). Ācārya Kundakunda, all through this Holy Scripture Rayaṇasāra, underscores the importance of the right-faith (samyagdarśana) for the householder (śrāvaka) as well as the ascetic (muni, śramaṇa). He asserts that in the (present) unfavourable fifth era the study – svādhyāya – of the Scripture, indeed, is meditation (dhyāna); it results in the subjugation of the five-senses (paṅcendriya) as well as of the passions (kaṣāya)