Jaina Philosophy and Religion

SR No.: 001604
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nyayavijay
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 500
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Epistemology
File Size: 12 MB

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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
and upayoga (resultant knowledge). The soul acquires the capacity to know different objects due to the subsidence-cum-destruction of the respective karmas acting as covering of matijñāna, etc. This acquisition of capacity is called labdhindriya. And the actual indeterminate or determinate knowledge which takes place in relation to objects like colour, etc. at the time when labdhi, nirurtti and upakarana these three combine together, is upayogendriya. Thus, each of the five sense-organs is of four types, viz. labdhi, nirurtti, upakarana and upayoga. That is to say, it is the collective totality of these four types that constitutes a sense-organ taken in its entirety. Thus, precisely to the extent this collective totality is deficient, the corresponding sense-organ too is deficient. Though upayogendriya is, in fact, something resulting from the collective totality of labdhi, nirurtti and upakarana, it has been called a sense-organ in a figurative sense, that is, as a result of attributing to an effect a feature which, in fact, belongs to its cause. Upayoga means knowledge. Labdhindriya is the inner spiritual capacity instrumental in its generation, while nirvyttindriya and upakaranendriya are the two forms of a physical sense-organ which is an external instrument in its generation. The operation (upayoga) of the inner spiritual capacity is nothing but knowing or cognising. So, it is quite proper to employ the term 'upayoga' in the sense of knowledge.
Of the five types of knowledge, we have already dealt with matijñāna and śrutajñāna. Avadhijñāna (clairvoyance) and manaḥparyāyajñāna (telepathy) are perceptual really and not merely empirically, because they do not depend on sense-organs for their generation. They are generated directly without the mediation of sense-organs and mind, on account of the power of soul. They arise directly from within the knower's self. Avadhijñāna is not of one type, but of innumerable types. It is that knowledge which directly grasps the physical things lying within certain spatial and temporal limits, even if those things are covered or obstructed by some other things like wall, screen, etc. or even if they are spatially and temporally remote. Manahparyāyajñāna is that knowledge which lucidly perceives the states (modes) of the material mind-substances of others. One having manahparyāyajñāna can know as to what the other person is thinking. Kevalajñāna is the perfect knowledge. It is omniscience.
To attain the highest state of self-isolation or liberation, one should understand the way of ascending the ladder leading to that state, that is, the gradual development of the soul. This being the subject-matter of the Jaina theory of spiritual development, now we propose to deal with it.