Four Instincts - Jainism

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"Jain texts enumerate four instincts (samjnas)

universally found in all forms of life including the

vegetable kingdom. Craving for food (ahara-samjna) is the

most primary of these instincts. No being other than

the liberated soul is exempt from it. This desire for

food sets up competition between one living being and

another, which gives rise to the second instinct, namely

that of fear (bhaya-samjna). The consumption of food

sets in motion the third of the instincts, the desire

for reproduction (maithuna-samjna), which produces

further desire for food. This, in turn, produces a

craving to accumulate things for future use, the instinct

called parigraha-samjna, which invariably goads the

souls towards volitional harmful acts (himsa) inspired

by attachment and aversion (raga and dvesha). The

Jains therefore see the craving for food and other

requisites as the very root of all bondage, the uprooting of

which is essential for the elimination of the other

passions."

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