Acharanga Bhasyam: Sūtras 104-106 : The Soul

5.104 je āyā se viṇṇāyā, je viṇṇāyā se āyā. jeṇa vijāṇati se āyā.

The soul is the knower and the knower is the soul. That through which one knows is the soul.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 104

The soul is a substance; and knowledge is its quality. To the query whether the quality is different or non-different from the substance, the Sūtra says the soul is that which knows. The implication is that the soul is not bereft of knowledge. The implication of the statement, that which knows is the soul is that knowledge is not possible without the soul. Says the Cūrṇi - there cannot be any soul that is devoid of the knowledge and cognition. Fire is never devoid of heat, that is the heat is pot different from the fire. Therefore, when fire is spoken of, heat is implicitly spoken of. Similarly the assertion of the soul is tantamount to the assertion of cognition: the assertion of cognition is tantamount to the assertion of the soul. In this way the topic is discussed through the method of vice-versa'.^[1] In the Bhagavatī (6.174) too, the non-difference between the soul and consciouness has been propounded in the following way:

'O Lord! is the self soul? Is the consciousness soul?'

'O Gautama! the self is necessarily soul, consciousness is also necessarily soul'.

Here it has been propounded that the self is also soul, the consciousness is also soul. The instrument by which the self cognizes, that cognition (instrument) is also the self^[2] ('self and 'soul' have been used in the same sense).

5.105 taṃ paḍucca paḍisaṃkhāe.

Various transformations of knowledge designate the soul differently.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 105

If the self and knowledge are considered to be non-different, then on the multiplicity of the cognition, each self will be a multiple entity. There are infinite number of modes of the sensuous knowledge and the like,^[3] and as such, a single self will be virtually an infinitely multiple entity. On this problem, the Sūtra says - the self assumes various cognitions, and is known or signified by those particular cognitions. For instance, when the self knows the jar, it is (called) 'jar-knowledge'. Similarly, when the self hears the audible it is 'auditory sense-organ', and so on; it is the 'tactile sense-organ' when it knows the touch. There is no cloth-consciousness at the time of jar-consciousness and vice-versa. Here the tripple aspects of existence are to be applied - the soul is possessed of origination, cessation and continuity. The existence of the self is eternal; the modes of knowledge arise and vanish. Depending on those tripple aspects, the unitary soul is designated as a multiple entity.^[4]

5.106 esa āyāvādī samiyāe-pariyāe viyāhite.

A believer of the soul is called a person who has perfectly comprehended the Truth.

The believer in the doctrine of the self is rightly called a person of enlightened vision just because he accepts the aforesaid doctrine of the self. The designation, namely the believer in the doctrine of the self is rightly applicable to the person who has comprehended the true nature of the self. (Cf. Āyāro, 5.27).