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

Page 95

82 GRADATION OF SOULS AND STAGES OF OMNISCIENCE
the modern scientific temper. We are more concerned with the principles of their classifications than with its actual details. ::.. [A] Gradation in the form of Pañca-parames thi and
the Concept of Omniscience :: The Namokāra Mantra (Salutation-chant) with which every cevout Jaina makes his daily obeisance and worship indicates a gr adaul unfolding of the potentialities of the self. The pañcaParc naşthi is a collective name for the five kinds of divine souls namely the Arhats or Perfact and embodied souls possessing infinite knowledge, happiness and power, Siddhas or the perfect soul in Nirvana which are formless, bodiless, and free from all kaimic attachment, the Ācāryas or the experts in the field of spirituality, the Upādhyāyas or the experts guiding ascetics ard finally Sadhus or the ascetics devoted to the contemplation of self 38 The Arhathood is the culmination of the faculties and powers of the soul and it is blessed with the four-fold infinities after destroying the four obstructive kaimas.34 However, even an Arhat is describable from both the poir.is of view. From the transcendental point of view, an Arhat is without a body but from the ordinary point of view, he possesses a very illuminating body.85 The nature of other divire beings such as Siddhas, 36 Ācāryas,37
33 For details please see Dr. Nemichandra Šāstri's Mangala Namokara:
Eka Anucintana (Kāsi, Bhāratiya Jñāna Pitha, (2nd ed.), 1960), where the different meanings of these words have been analysed. This chant has a mystical significance in Jaina literature (Bịhat-Dravya Sangraha, 49). This chant originally consists of letters (Dravya Sangraha, 49) which can be reduced to even one letter viz. OM (Vide Sākatā yana Vyakarana, 1.1.77; 1.1.81) and be lengthened into twelve
thousand verses (Pañca Namaskāra). 34 Nemichandra, Dravyasangraha, 50. 35 Bịhat Dravyasangraha, p. 191 (Com. on Dravyasangraha, Verse 50) 36 Ibid., Dravyasangraha, 51; Gommațasara (Jiva Kānda), 68. 37 Dravyasangraha, 52; Bịhat Dravyasangraha, 52; Gommațasāra (Jīva
Kānda), p. 193,
KA