The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c8.263

c8.263

Anticipating the style of the successive comments the Antakiriyā-paya of the Pannav. begins by saying (369a): atth’egaie (jīve anta-kiriyam) karejjā, atth. (j. a.-k.) no karejjā.¹ This means that not all souls are able to find salvation. It was Viy. 285b that had expressed it: a being of the one stage or the other may be capable of salvation, but this does not apply to every being of this or that stage. While the canonical word is either (a)bhava-siddhiya or -siddhiya (Samav. 2b, 8b, etc. 45b, 47b), Umāsvāti speaks of (a)bhavya. Acc. to him (T. 2,6 ) this quality pertains to the qualities inherent in the soul (pāriṇāmika) (§ 60). What is said by Viy. 557a is but seemingly contradictory to it. While the former says that the capability of salvation is sabhāvao, not pariṇāmao, the latter makes us understand that it is not an acquired, but a natural quality, All souls that have it (so it is continued to be said) will come to enjoy salvation, but never will the world be void of souls capable of salvation. From this contention of Mahāvīra’s (which Jayantī hears with amazement², and which he substantiates by a comparison with the atoms) we understand that the bhava-siddhiya replenish themselves on and again. In order to grasp its proper meaning we obviously—though the text does not say so—have to anticipate the theory of the nigoya (§ 104). These plant souls distributed throughout the world in ∞ number constitute the inexhaustible stock of souls, as far as they are subtle (suhuma) and undeveloped (apajjatta). As soon as in such souls development starts causing to participate in the world course proper, there appears the possibility of salvation: if once *pajjatta*, then they are partly *bhava-siddhiya*, partly not. By what impulse the development and the capability of salvation are being brought about, is not said in the texts of the Canon.