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

Page 132

The General Coriception of Knowledge 107 put anything into different states. The pillar cannot take the form of coil, however strong the imagination may be. The Inherence of Consciousness in the self, against experience :
Further according to the Nyāya the soul is not conscious (cetana) by itself, but becomes so through the inherence of consciousness. This is against experience. Every body feels consciousness as nature of the self. Moreover, if the soul is not conscious by itself, what is it? The Nyāya has no reply to this question. If the soul is by itself without consciousness, .e. jada, it cannot possess the later through inherence any more than a jar can do so. By itself there is no difference between jar and the soul. Location and the located :
The Nyāya argues that the experience "I am conscio a shows that the soul is an abode of consciousness just as the earth of a jar. The location and the located are always different from each other. Similarly, the soul and consciousness also are mutually different from each other. The Jaina replies to this that the experience of location and the located is possible in one and the same object also. We say, 'The head on the body' even when the head is not different from the latter.
Theory of Cod :
Another point of controversy is the admittance of God by the Nyāya. It is related more with ethics than the theory of knowledge. Still, some points deserve mention for the present also. According to the Nyāya God is omniscient. His knowledge and other qualities are eternal. Jainism also holds liberated souls as omniscient, but their knowledge is eternal in the sense that once produced, never disappears. According to the Nyāya there is a fundamental difference between two souls. God is omniscient and one, the common soul is ignorant and many. God is the creator and Master of the Universe, the other is a slave and toy of the fate (adssta). One is entirely free from