Gommatasara Jiva Kanda

SR No.: 001612
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nemichandra Siddhant Chakravarti, J L Jaini
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1927
Total Pages: 438
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Principle, & Canon
File Size: 9 MB

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not in the hurry to criticise, or dogmatise, to say "What is Truth,'' and then Pilate-like to go away,
8 kinds of knowledge. One thing I may here say, although it is obvious that Sensitive and Scriptural knowledge may go wrong. Even Visual knowledge (direct vision of matter by the soul) may go wrong but direct Mental knowledge of the mind of others and Perfect knowledge or Omniscience cannot go wrong. Thus we may be said to have come to 8 kinds of knowledge; five right and the first three wrong also.
These are the first batch of considerations of the great fact of consciousness in living matter. And we must remember that each kind of conscious activity has its preliminary Attentiveness.
Thus we may sum up. Consciousness is Attentiveness of Conation or of Knowledge, or Conation or Knowledge itself. Conation is for Ocular, (Chakshu), Non-ocular (Achakshu), Visual (Avadhi), or Perfect (kevala) Knowledge.
Knowledge is Sensitive( Mati),Scriptural(Shruta),Visual( Avadhi), Mental(Manah Paryaya) or Perfect (Kevala), also wrong Sensitive (Ku-Mati), wrong Scriptural (Ku-Shruta), and wrong Visual(KuAvadhi)Knowledge.
Let us illustrate again. Consciousness which is the mighty, real characterstic of life is the starting point. You must be alive to read these words. You must be attentive to feel that something is there. You must conate these words. Then again you must be attentive to perceive, then alone you begin to know them, i.e. have perception, conception, judgment, retention, memory, recognition, induction, or deduction from them.
Roughly it may be said that attentiveness for conation or knowledge of any kind is the first instant of conation or knowledge. As the name implies it is the instant in which consciousness attends to conate or know an object. Also obviously conation is a necessary preliminary to knowledge.
Consciousness is the most essential difference between the Living and Non-Living. It deservedly detained us for a moment. But we must attend once more to a distinction between the two mighty categories, the Living and the Non-living Substances.
We have seen that the first distinction is that the Living has and the Non-living does not have the four or ten vitalities of the five senses; the power of mind, speech and body; respiration ; and age. We found the second distinction to be attentiveness of consciousness to four kinds of conation, Ocular, Non-ocular, Visual and Perfect; and to eight kinds of knowledge, Sensitive, Scriptural,