Jainism Simplified Chapter 19 - InstinctsINSTINCTS Instincts play a significant role in our life. They affect our conduct as well as behavior. They have been illustrated in Jain Canons from the karmic philosophical point of view. One of the modern disciplines of science is psychology of behavior which emphasizes the original instinct in the form of natural tendencies and modes of living, emotions, feelings. It corroborates the karmic explanations. What is instinct? First of all we should understand the concept of an instinct. There are two meanings. One is an emotion which is called an original instinct in the psychological term and the other is consciousness. Whatever we do, is influenced by the impelling force of these special types of emotions. In the other words instict (samjna) means particular type of tendency of consciousness in which conscious and subconscious minds are combined together and called emotions. Internal and external causes activate them to arise. The material cause of them is karmas. Simultaneously external environment also affects in their production. On the basis of the causes of generation we can divide them into several types. Thanang Sutra one of the Agama describes ten types of instincts. The first eight are emotional or sentimental instincts whereas rest of the two are concerned with a special type of thought process. Instinct of appetite Ahara samjna Instinct of fear Bhaya samjna Instinct of copulation Maithun samjna Instinct of possession parigraha samjna Instinct of anger Krodha samjna Instinct of Pride Mana samjna Instinct of deceit Maya samjna Instinct of greed Lobha samjna Instinct of collective mind Ogha samjna Instinct of individual Loka samjna consciousness The conduct and behavior are the outcome of deluding karma (Mohaniya Karma). Due to the influence of instinct man changes his habits and nature. Therefore the above stated classification may be clearly understood in the light of karmas philosophy and psychological divisions. Outcome of deluding karmas Original emotions Fear Fear Anger Anger Disgust (jugupsa) Hatred Feminine inclination (striveda) Sexuality Masculine inclination (purusveda) Sexuality Common inclination (napunskaveda) Sexuality Pride superiority complex Greed ownership Indulgence (Rati) attachment dissatisfaction (Arati) sorrow The similar division is given by the well-known psychologist Mac Dowell in psychological terms as under : Original tendencies Original emotions Tendency of escapism Fear Tendency of struggle Anger Tendency of curiosity eagerness Tendency of search of food Appetite Tendency of paternity Affection Tendency of disgust Hatred Tendency of community feeling Community feeling Tendency of copulation sex Tendency of prejudice superiority Tendency of inferiority complex Inferiority Tendency of Earning Ownership Tendency of Creation Creativity Tendency of begging pity Tendency of humor pleasure The above given divisions can be concised in three categories. They are : In the first group : Instinct of appetite, fear, copulation and possessiveness . These exist in every creature of the world. An instinct of appetite is found in all. On account of this creature feels hunger and searches for it. Really a big part of our life is motivated by it. A number of behavior of a living being are activated by fear. The feeling of getting hurt creates fear. All creatures have the instinct of copulation. The fourth one is the instinct of possessiveness exists in human beings as well as in animals. They collect their requirements and want to get more and more things due to this. The second group of instincts : Anger, pride, deceit and greed. This group of instincts also exists in all living beings. But in man they are well developed and expressed. The first group of instincts is precursor of activating these instincts. For example when a person gets hungry and if it is not satisfies he becomes angry. To earn money people use deceive methods. Once you start earning greed sets in which may become the cause of violences, corruptions, eetc. In this way it can be said that the former group of instincts activate the later or both are correlated with each other. The third group of instincts are: Community feeling and individuality. The most living beings more or less desire to live in a group. Anthropologist Maxmullar also accepts this tendency. Not only in human beings but it exists in animals also. The consciousness of individuality are found in all the animates. Every creature has some sort of distinguished characteristics. Origin of instincts: Now the question arises what is responsible of outpouring of instincts? In this respect we illustrate internal and external causes. Instinct of Appetite Internal: due to the rising of feeling and deluding karmas. External: due to Emptiness of stomach seeing food-stuffs thinking about food constantly smelling the flavor Instinct of fear Internal: deluding karmas External: Inferiority complex Visualizing fearful events Continuous thinking about fear. Instinct of copulation Internal: deluding karmas External: Strengthening of muscles and organs of the body Listening or reading the copulation connected material. Constant thinking about it. Instinct of possession : Internal: deluding karmas External: To have possession already To listen about possession To think about possession In this way instincts of anger, pride etc., are also outpoured by deluding karmas and activated by external situations. Impressions of instincts: They are not only connected with our feelings but with physical and mental functioning structure also. They influence the external as well as internal functioning of the body. Mental states and feelings are also affected by them. We can understand them as External changes : Facial expressions : Vocal expressions : Physical posture and gesture Internal changes : States of the mind : Feelings of the consciousness : Psychological responses : Nervous system : Secretion of glands : Chemistry of blood The scientific approach: For a long time it was believed that the brain was the source of energy and the seat of impulses of man. Significant progresses in endocrinology (branch of science dealing with endocrine system) in the recent years has established that the passions and expressions affect the endocrine system. Endocrine system is the basis of habit formation in a person. They manifest themselves in the Nervous system and becomes behavioral pattern. Thus manifestation and behavior are the function of the nervous system, but the birth place - the production centre of the instincts is endocrine system. The endocrine glands control through chemical regulators called hormones. They regulate the body functions. These chemical messengers exert profound influence on the mental states, emotions and behavioral patterns of an individual. They are primary movers which generate the powerful forces, all the instincts and urges, passions and emotions in man. These, in turn generate feelings and results into action that satisfy the needs of love, hate, fear etc. are endocrines expressions. Therefore it is said that endocrine system is the seat of the instincts from the gross point of view but actually the karmas are responsible for the producing of the instincts. How the instincts can be changed? Now the most important task before us is how these instincts and urges, impulses and feelings can be pacified? In this context you can be benefited by the regular practice of special technique of preksha meditation. There are various methods available in this field. One of them is visualization of bright white color at the centre of enlightenment, that is in the middle part of the forehead. If a person practises it constantly, he can control his anger and increase his power of tolerance to a great extent. The another significant process of preksha meditation is perception of deep breathing which helps to pacify the intensity of the instincts. Therefore, regular practice of meditation develops balanced and an integrated personality by decreasing the intensity of instincts. Back to Chapters List. Back to the Home Page.