Jaina Concept of Omniscience

SR No.: 001547
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ramjee Singh
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 258
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Knowledge
File Size: 17 MB

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MĪMĀSAKAS' OBJECTIONS ANSWERED
āṁsakas start with the analysis of the possible meaning of the 'omniscience and try to show that the concept has no logic and consistency. I shall discuss here the objections raised by the Minārsakas and the answers given by the Jainas and Buddhists side by side, I shall also offer my own comments wherever necessary and possible. 1. The First Objections :
Tne Mimārnsakas ask whether omniscience means the knowledge of everything or merely that of important and essential things of the universe. The Jainas cannot accept the second alternative which is both illogical and against their relativistic metaphysics. Unless one knows all the objects, he cannot distinguish between the essential and the non-essential, because knowledge is an interrelated whole. This is a type of objective relativism, which we also find in Whitehead and Bodin. However, there it has no similarity with Einstein's relativity except in the most general attitudes. The Jaina scriptures often proclaim this theory.9 Gunaratna10 also refers to an oft quoted passage found in numberous Jaina works. It refers to the idea that "he who knows one also knows all”. Every entity is related to all entities in the universe in some relation or other. These relations or paryāya are to be completely known. Hence, it follows that the complete knowledge of one entity involves the complete knowledge of other entities as well.
Since, the Jainas believe that the reality has innumerable characteristics, they cannot subscribe to the doctrine of comparative unimportance of the extent of knowledge. As things have many characters they can be known only when made the objects of all-sided knowledge or omniscience.11 Hence the Jainas re. fute the views of both the Mimāṁsakas and the Buddhists like Dharmakirti, when they try to underrate the importance
9 Ācārānga-sūtra, I. 1.3. 10 Gunaratna's comm. on şad-darśana-samuccaya, p. 222; cp. Kunda
kunda, Pravacana-sära, I. 48. 11 Siddhasena Diväkara, Nyāyavatāra, 29.
Kunda