The Soul in Jainism

Jainism is among the ancient Indian religions and has a history of more than twenty five centuries and is considered to be among the Nastika or non-orthodox Indian religions. The matter of the soul, which is referred to as the Jiva in this school of thought, is one of the important concepts of this religion and is one of the two principal categories of ontology and is also one of the main and primary subject of Jainism philosophy. Jainism considers the actual existence of the soul to be an intuitive matter; however, they have still presented arguments for its existence. In his school of thought, even though the soul is not believed to be material, it has dimensions and expands and contracts in accordance with the body. An infinite number of souls exist and all existents, even elements consist of a soul that has from one up to six perceptional senses in accordance to the body it lives in. In its pure state the soul possesses unlimited awareness and intuition, unlimited rapture and joy, and is absolute perfection and knowledge and awareness is not a characteristic but rather its essence; however, this illuminated essence is encompassed by karma – an extremely subtle matter, as a result of certain actions and feelings and this is the start of its imprisonment. The goal of a Jainism way – farer is to rid the soul of these layers of karma known as lesya and this is attained through asceticism and during the course of successive lives. The purpose of this article is to explain the soul in Jainism through utilizing a descriptive-analytical method and using authentic library resources and shows that teachings in regards to the soul in Jainism are decidedly different from that of other Indian religions.