Jaina Epistemology

SR No.: 006738
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1990
Total Pages: 516
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

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Epistemology of Jainas
and admit the soul as a permanent reality. They define it as substratum of knowledge and other psychic qualities which means that consciousness resides in the self through the relation of inherence. Unlike Jainas they do not hold the two as identical, but accept their existence as separate entities. The Nyāya maintains two types of soul : Supreme and Common. The supreme soul is God. It is one and eternally Omniscient. The common souls are many and possess the quality of knowledge as an adventitious phenomenon. Both types of souls are allpervading and eternal.1 Every individual body is assosiated with a separate soul. Its Qualities
God has eight qualities 2 of number (Samkhyā), dimension (parimāņa), severally (přthaktva), conjunction (samyoga) disjunction (vibhāga), consciousness (buddhi), desire (icchā) and effort (prayatna). The common soul contains six mores viz., pleasure (sukha), pain (duḥkha), merit (dharma) demerit (adharma), aversion (dvesa) and predisposition (bhāvanā.)
The Number of the Selves The common souls are many in number; otherwise, the NV. says, difference in experiences of different bodies cannot be explained. One person is happy while the other miserable. This difference cannot exist in one and the same self. The individual soul experiences pain or pleasure and occupies different bodies in different births, according to the merit or demerit.4 Dimension of the Self
The soul has the extreme magnitude. It is all-pervading.* If it is admitted as atomic, the Nyāya argues, it would occupy 1. Kärikāvali 51 2. Ibid., 34 3. Ibid., 35 4. Prasastapādabhāsya p. 73; Nyāyakandall p. 86 5. Prasastapādabhāsya p. 70; Nyāyakandali p. 88