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Jainism As Metaphilosophy
17 Ibid., I. 12. 18
See Pramāna-Mimāṁsa, I. 1. 16: "The proof of omniscience follows from the proof of the necessity of the final consummation of the progressive development of cognition." Explaining this, M.L. Mehta writes: "Just as heat is subject to varying degrees and consequently reaches the highest limit, so also cognition which is subjcct to progressive development owing to the varying degrees of destruction of the obscuring veil, reaches the highest limit, i.e. omniscience when the hindrance of the obscuring karma is totally annihilated." - See Outlines of Jaina Philosophy, Bangalore: Jain Mission Society, 1954, p. 100. The reference is to indicate that a type of knowledge can be visualised in which the mcdiation of the sense-organs and the mind is significantly absent. Since there is no mediator, the jiva is able to have knowledge directly. Though clairvoyance (avadhi-jñana) and telepathy (manahparyāya-jñāna) also come under the category of immediate perception (pratyakşa) rather than mediate perception (parokşa), it is kevala-jñāna alone which is
immediate perception in the full sense of the term. 20 Taltvārtha-Sutra, I. 30 and Commentary. 21 Ibid. , I. 27-30 and Commentary. 22 Ibid., I. 30 and Commentary; see also Avasyakaniryukli, 77. 23 See Tattvārtha-Sūtra, Commentary on 1. 30. 24 See the present author's Outlines of Jainism, pp. 168-170 and
pp. 177-179 for a more detailed analysis.
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