Jiva

MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA
M.M.NINAN
Upādanā kārana (substantial or material cause) ). Upādanā kārana is always
identical with its effect. For example out of clay, you can only produce a clay pot;
hence the clay is the upādanā kārana or material cause and clay pot its effect.
Wherever the effect is present, the cause is present and vice versa. The effect is
always present in latent form in the material cause. For transforming the clay to
pot, the potter, the wheel, the stick and other operating agents are required that
are merely nimitta or instrumental cause or catalysts in transformation. The
material cause always remains the clay. Hence the cause and effect are always
entirely identical in nature. Potter cannot be the material cause of pot. If this
were the case, then Potter might as well prepare the pot without any clay. But
this is not so. Thus a clay pot can only be made from clay; gold ornaments can
be made only from gold. Similarly the different modes of existence of a soul are a
result of activities of soul itself. There cannot be any contradiction or exceptions.
Nimitta kārana (instrumental cause)
In such a scenario, Jains argue that the material cause of a living soul with cetana
(conscious entity) is always the soul itself and cause of dead inert matter (non-cetana
i.e. without any consciousness) is always the matter itself. If God is indeed the creator,
then this is an impossible predication as the same cause will be responsible for two
contradictory effects of cetana (life) and acetana (matter). This logically precludes an
immaterial God (a conscious entity) from creating this Universe, which is made up of
material substances.
Thus Jainism does not support belief in a creator deity. According to Jain doctrine, the
universe and its constituents—soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion—have
always existed. All the constituents and actions are governed by universal natural laws.
It is not possible to create matter out of nothing and hence the sum total of matter in the
universe remains the same (similar to law of conservation of mass). Jain text claims that
the universe consists of Jiva (life force or souls), and Ajiva (lifeless objects).Similarly,
the soul of each living being is unique and uncreated and has existed since
beginningless time.
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