Book Review: Jaina Psychology: An Introduction

Summary

This book review by Dr. Anupam Jash introduces Mohanlal Mehta’s Jaina Psychology: An Introduction (Parshvanath Vidyapeeth, 2002). Jash notes that the Jaina philosophical system has its own independent psychology rooted in the doctrine of karma. Mehta’s book seeks to present the fundamentals of Jaina psychology in an accessible English account while critically comparing Jain ideas with modern Western psychology and other Indian philosophical schools. The book is based largely on original Prakrit and Sanskrit Jain texts and is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter explains the essentials of the doctrine of karma and its significance in Indian thought, providing a background for understanding the psychological implications of karmic theory. The second chapter addresses the nature of consciousness and its relation to the self. Mehta discusses two kinds of cognition—apprehension (darśana) and comprehension (jñāna)—which correspond to indeterminate (nirvikalpaka) and determinate (savikalpaka) knowledge. He examines Siddhasena’s view that the omniscient’s knowledge is an inseparable blend of apprehension and comprehension. The third chapter gives a detailed account of sensory and mental knowledge (mati jñāna) and scriptural knowledge (śruta jñāna), including the functions of different sense organs and the categories of non‑verbal comprehension such as sensation, perception, retention, recollection and recognition. It also analyses reasoning and verbal comprehension. In the fourth chapter Mehta tackles extra‑sensory perception. Jain philosophy recognises two types of direct clairvoyant knowledge: avadhi jñāna (clairvoyance of material objects) and manaḥparyāya jñāna (telepathic knowledge of others’ thoughts). Mehta compares these to modern parapsychological concepts of clairvoyance and telepathy and discusses the notion of omniscience. The fifth chapter analyses sense‑feeling and emotion from a Jain perspective, emphasising the distinctive contribution of Jain thinkers to Indian psychology. The sixth and seventh chapters focus on activity and its control, detailing mental activities, self‑control and conditions for self‑discipline and comparing Jain insights with Buddhist and Yogic views. The final chapter provides a brief account of transmigration, progression and regression of beings in various states, and summarises the entire book. Jash emphasises that Mehta’s treatise demonstrates the profound contributions of Jain philosophers to psychology and pays meticulous attention to selecting technical terms and textual analysis. Produced as a PhD dissertation at Banaras Hindu University and first published in 1957, the work includes a six‑page index and a four‑page bibliography, making it a valuable tool for researchers. Parshvanath Vidyapeeth’s new edition is free of printing errors. The author, Dr. Mohanlal Mehta, is a renowned scholar who has produced numerous works on Jain philosophy, psychology and culture. His credentials as founder director of the P.V. Research Institute and a leading academic at the University of Poona underscore the book’s authority.