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THE JAINA CONCEPT OF JĪVA AND SARVAJÑATĀ
Ramjee Singh
According to Jain Philosophy, Knowledge is the inherent and distinguishing characteristic of the Jiva or Soul. If it were not the nature of the Jiva, it would be either the nature of the Ajiva 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 later case, there would be no knowledge, nor any consciousness, being which, happily is not a fact. Knowledge and the knower cannot be seperated from each other as a substance is inseperable from its attributes. This proves that self and knowledge are inseperable. There is no soul without knowledge and there is no knowledge without soul. Omniscience, therefore, becomes the natural property of the soul and non-omniscience only adventitious or accidental owing its existence to some external causes or obstructives.
However, to the Nyaya-Vaisiskas, consciousness is an adventitious quality of the soul which comes temporarily as an effect of a complete cognitive mechinery - contact between sense and object and then between sense and mind and finally between mind Presented in “Seminar on Jaina Logic and Philosophy" (Poona University 1975)
