Process
of Change and Nine Tattvas
This is the Zen-Buddhist approach, appropriately
emphasising the flittering nature of the things of this universe. The
Jaina thinkers may have no objection to this proposition. But they go
further and maintain that a man has the potential to understand the nature
of the change in life as well as capable of bringing some order in the
change. This understanding of the change led them to evolve nine
fundamental elements, explaining the whole process of bondage and
liberation of the soul. These Nine principles are fundamental to the
understanding of Jaina philosophy, hence called Nine �tattvas' meaning
�Essence'. The word �tattva' is explained in Samskrta as (Tasva bhavah
tattvam) meaning �the essence of a thing is Tattva'. What is the essence
of all this change, represented by the process of Karmic bondage and
freedom of the self ? What is the mechanism by which this process works,
why it works and how it can be regulated to take the self to the desired
end, i.e., the final liberation ? These are the questions, the Jaina seers
have tried to answer by pointing out the mechanism of these nine tattvas.
They have pointed out that every soul, in its journey
to freedom has to reckon with seven elements, namely, Papa-vicious deeds
known as sins, Punya-virtuis deeds, Asrava -influx of karmic particles
caused by vicious or virtuous deeds, Bandha-bondage due to the said
influx, Sanvara-prevention of influx of karmas, Nirjara-annihilation of
accumulated karmas and Moksa-final liberation. Jiva the self, tied with
Ajiva from time immemorial, struggles to liberate itself from the union
with Ajiva, and in that process, it has to encounter with the above seven
elements. These seven elements, along with the two elements of Jiva and
Ajiva constitute nine elements in all, the understanding of which gives us
the total picture are called (Nava-tattva), and the understanding of these
Nine-tattvas, covers the whole field of Jaina metaphysics and the ethics.
It is pertinent to note that, unlike most of the
Western thinkers, the Indian Philosophers have never tried to dissociate
metaphysic from ethics, as according to them real knowledge is personal
experience which does not come without living your philosophy in actual
life. It is for this reason that the Jaina philosophers have joined the
metaphysical concepts of Jiva and Ajiva with the rest of the seven
concepts which are ethical in their contents.
