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Bhagavai 5:4:83-88
- 235 :
beloved of gods! seven hundred disciples of mine will be liberated ..... upto put an end to the sufferings'. Then, we, the two gods, being thus mentally addressed for our mentally put query by the Ascetic Lord Mahāvīra, paid our homage and obeisance to the Ascetic Lord Mahāvīra ...... upto we worship him’. Having said so, the two gods paid their homage and obeisance to Lord Gautama. Having paid homage and obeisance, they (the two gods) departed in the direction from which they had come.
Bhāsya
1. Sūtras 83-88
Mental dialogue quâ question and answer is a super-sensuous process. Any person can become a mental questioner and any other person can be a mental replier. There is nothing extra-ordinary in this process. But what is para-normal is to understand the mentally communicated query and on the other end to grasp the reply given by the replier at the mental level. The Lord was omniscient, so it was not difficult for him to know the query put at the mental level and give the answer mentally. The gods were possessed of clairvoyant knowledge, so it was possible for them to understand the answer communicated to them at the mental level.
The omniscient Lord has no psychic mind (bhāva mana), but he does possess the physical mind (dravya mana) which he exercises for communication. The psychical mind can be compared with the sensory nervous system, while the motor nervous system is comparable to the physical mind.
In Jain epistemology, yoga (i.e., activities of body, speech and mind) and upayoga (i.e., activities of consciousness) are considered to be separate phenomena. The former is in the form of the motor activities, while the latter is a cognitive process of sentience.
According to modern medical science, the sensory nerves carry out the cognitive (sensory) activities--the messages of sense-organs to the brain as well as the neuronal activities of the brain, which ultimately interpret the sensory message and result in sensory knowledge. On the other hand, the motor nerves are responsible for carrying out various muscular activities which result in physical activities of body. The speech activities are also regulated through the vocal cord's motor nerves.
The Omniscient (Kevali) does not use the sense-organs for cognitive activities; in the same way, the Omniscient does not use bhāva mind (mana) for cognitive activities. thus the bhāva mana in the form of cognitive activities is absent in the Kevali, but the Kevali does make use of the mind in the form of motor nerves' activities for carrying on the activities of mind and speech. As there is yoga in Kevali, he can do the activities of muscles-of body and vocal cords. Hence, there is the use of physical mind (dravya mana) in carrying out the activities of manoyoga, but this is quite different from the cognitive mind used in the cognitive activities. Also refer to Bhāşya on Bha. 5.100-102.
Semantics
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