Harmless Soul

SR No.: 001196
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 372
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Principle
File Size: 20 MB

Page 225

Kundakunda: The Pravacanasāra 211
This I, qualified for liberation by means of adhering to the idea of 'not mine' and abandoning the idea of 'mine', preceded by full aquaintance with the truth that the self is inherently a knower, devotes itself to the pure self in all its undertakings because there is no gap between them.
That is to say, I am indeed inherently a knower, and as I am one whose knowledge is absolute (i.e. as I am omniscient) I have a relationship - which takes the form of that between a knower and the naturally knowable - with everything, and no other relationship, such as that between possessor and possession. I am, therefore, unpossessive towards all things and attached to nothing. 92
What does it mean to say that the ātman is naturally or inherently a knower (or as the Samayasāra puts it of the emotions and the operation of karman: 'they are not my own nature; I am exclusively [uniquely) a knower by nature')?93
In the first instance, this is a perception which relies upon the teaching that the liberated soul does not simply attain a condition of isolated bliss at the apex of the universe, it is also characterised by omniscience (kevalajñāna). (Although, for the sake of precision, one should distinguish between those liberated souls who have already discarded their bodies (siddhas) and those arhats who have attained omniscience but for the time being remain embodied.) P.S. Jaini renders the term 'kevalajñāna' as 'knowledge isolated from karmic
92 aham esa mokṣādhikārī jñāyakasvabhāvātmatattvaparijñānapurassaramamatvanirmamatvahānopādānavidhänena krtvāntarasyābhāvāt sarvārambhena śuddhātmani pravartate tathāhi - aham hi tavat jñāyaka eva svabhāvena, kevalajñāyakasya ca sato mama viśvenāpi sahajñeyajñāyakalaksaņa eva sambandhaḥ na punar anye svasvāmilakṣaṇādayaḥ sambandhāḥ|| tato mama na kvacanăpi mamatvam sarvatra nirmamatvam eva | TD on Pravac. 2:108.
93 na du te majjha sahāvā jānagabhāvo du aham ikko - Sam. 198 [= 213); cf. ibid. 207.