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CHAPTER IV
SOUL-PSYCHOLOGY AND OMNISCIENCE
I. Soul-psychology and Omniscience Knowledge is the natural and distinguishing characteristic of the soul Jiva.' If it were not the nature of the soul, it would be either the nature of the none-soul (Ajīva) or of nothing whatsoever. In the former case, the unconscious becomes the conscious, and the soul would be unable to know itself or anything else, because it would be then devoid of consciousness. In the latter case, there would be no knowledge, nor any conscious being which, happily, is not a fact. The presupposition behind any kind of knowledge-Syādvāda (relative) or Sarvajñatā (absolute) is the belief that the soul is the knower.
Knowledge and the Knower cannot be separated from each other. For Jainas, unlike Vaiseșika, a thing and its attributes are not two separate entities brought together by a third category Samavāya or inherence. According to Jaina metaphysics, a substance and its attributes form an inseparable and indivisible unity. This means that self and knowledge are inseparable. Spiritual progress, therefore, consists in “the gradual enfolding of consciousness of the self to a higher and higher states resulting in the progressive widening of knowledge till the self becomes perfect and knowledge becomes co-extensive with reality. This is the state of omniscience for the self.”. It is also his final salvation. The soul is a sub
1 Uttaradhyayana Sūtra, XVIII, 10-11 2 Kundakunda, Sama yasära, 403. 3 Amrtacandra, Atmakhyāti, a commentary on Kundakunda's Şamaya.
sāra, 404. JCO-10
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