Dr. N.L. Kachhara
In Jain philosophy the qualities and traits of a worldly soul are determinable in terms of karma. All processes, actions, behavior, and performances of a worldly soul can be explained by processes taking place in the karma body and the soul. We defined two types of intelligence in Chapter 5:
- Psychical intelligence - manifested by the destruction, suppression or destruction-cum-suppression of psychical (ghatin) karma
- Biological intelligence - manifested by the rise of biological (aghatin) karma.
The manifestation of biological intelligence produces hardware in the form of the body and is a deciding factor in determining one's activities. The body is self-sufficient and has a local information system, in the form of the genetic code, for its operation. The manifestation of psychical intelligence provides the application software that makes use of the body hardware. Ksayopashama of deluding karma generates the need for applications, and ksayopashama of intelligence-obscuring karma provides the intelligence for the design and operation of the application software. Ksayopashama of awareness-obscuring karma helps the intelligence in this task. This software is not essential for the operation of the body, which can function without it as happens in the omniscient state. For a given body, it is the power and capacity of the application software that produces the results. High results are obtained by powerful software generated on the high ksayopashama (etc.) of psychical karma; low results are obtained by weak software generated on the low ksayopashama of psychical karma. The performance of the soul in a given mode is a function of the states of both the hardware and the software. The hardware in general is characterized by the number of senses and the presence or absence of the mind; the greater the number of senses, the better the hardware. In the human mode, the performance of the soul has the widest range, from the first gunasthana to fourteenth gunasthana depending upon the ksayopashama level of the psychical karma. When the hardware function is limited due to age or injury, or when the software is impaired on the rise of psychical karma, the performance of the living system is adversely affected.
Both types of intelligence work jointly to determine the overall performance of the soul. For example, an intelligent soul must have a good mind and a healthy brain. Referring to Chapter 4, higher intelligence may be manifested by greater destruction-cum-suppression of intelligence-obscuring karma. Higher J1may mean a better faculty of creative intelligence and higher J2may result in better rational intelligence. This must be accompanied by the rise of the appropriate body-making karma and status-determining karma to ensure a healthy and well-functioning brain. It is envisaged that when the soul is performing creatively and rationally merit karma is also on rise, i.e. the meritorious performance of the soul needs the rise of merit karma. The rise of demerit karma produces negative results.
Intelligence does not necessarily imply auspicious activities of the soul. Intelligence can be applied to both auspicious and inauspicious activities. This is decided by deluding karma. A higher level of destruction-cum-suppression of deluding karma promises auspicious actions. The manifested intelligence (or IQ) is a complex process involving karma of various types, but in general a higher intelligence can be attributed to a higher destruction-cum-suppression level of intelligence-obscuring karma.
What is wisdom and how is it related to intelligence? Wisdom is normally described as the ability to make good decisions, which may not necessarily be intelligent. I defined the term buddhi in Chapter 4 and showed that it consists of the qualities of intelligence and perception of the soul. The important point is that a wise person must have a clear perception of the self as well as of the environment so that he or she makes the right decision using whatever intelligence he/she has. A wise person may not always be very intelligent, and a very intelligent person may not be wise. Wisdom is a quality primarily related to the perception of events and the making of decisions that have a low possibility of conflict.
Emotional intelligence is not described in Jain philosophy. Jainism describes the passions (kashayas) and emotions (nokashayas) as the most detrimental impurities of the soul and suggests ways and means to reduce and ultimately eliminate them, leading to purer states of the soul. Jain philosophy emphasizes the control over the passions and emotions and does not refer to developing skills to use them for some worldly purpose in life. In the spiritual context passions and emotions are not considered useful traits and the utmost importance is given to removing them for peace and happiness in life. In this respect, emotional intelligence is rather an antithesis of intelligence and is considered an undesirable trait.
Spiritual intelligence is an important concept, but Jain philosophy does not describe it as intelligence rather, it is a power of the soul that is manifested on attaining states of higher purity. These states are described by Gunasthana. A higher Gunasthana with a smaller amount of passions and emotions represents higher purity of the soul. That is, as passions and emotions reduce the spiritual power of the soul increases. This, in a way, can also be called intelligence, as the soul in a higher Gunasthana becomes wise so as not to let passions and emotions bond again. No importance is given to the use of this spiritual power in accomplishing worldly objectives, which in fact run contrary to the very purpose of the spiritual life. The soul is expected to renounce worldly objectives as it ascends Gunasthanas with the ultimate goal of emancipation, getting rid of this worldly existence. On the complete elimination of passions and emotions, the soul becomes omniscient and has infinite intelligence, transcending the need for worldly affairs that are the source of the impurity of the soul. In this respect, Jain philosophy advocates attaining states of higher spiritual intelligence, reaching the peak in the thirteenth Gunasthana, the state of omniscience. Spirituality is the core principle of Jain philosophy and is considered to be the right path in life. Worldly activities are for the sustenance of life and should only be given importance to the extent that they do not interfere with spiritual progress.
