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
cannot retain the memory of past events. The flies sit on the same thing even if they are hundred times blown away. They cannot be rational. Memory is the quality of a developed mind. Similarly, the power of retention (dhāraṇā) also is a mental quality.
The above discussion leads us to the conclusion that mind is an instrument of knowing as well as the other psychical activities of feeling and willing. The external senses are related with knowing only. In the case of knowing the mind is further analysed in two varieties. It serves as an instrument of an independently recognised category of knowledge, as in the case of memory, inference etc. It also serves as an instrument of the development of sense-cognition. As a matter of fact both types are fundamentally the same. The elements of memory and inference exist in both cases. But, in one case they are independently recognized while in others they are secondary to the sensecognition. This division does not exist in the Āgamic period. It was introduced by the logical period, where the question of inference etc. came into prominence.
The Division of Mati Śruta-Nisrita and Aśruta-Nisrita
Mati covers all the stages of acquisition, conservation and elaboration, accepted by the modern pschology as the stages of thinking. These stages are only a logical assumption. They are hardly felt distinct from the another in our common experience. Sometimes, our mind works so abruptly that one. cannot discriminate whether the experience is a mental contribution or a sensation. Russell cites an example to clarify this point. Once, in the days when motor-car was a new invention, and people were not acquainted with its machinery, he moto red with a friend in a country-side. Suddenly, the tyre burst out with the noise like a gun-shot. His friend was not acquaiinted with the noise of bursting and took it as that of a gun. 1. Analysis of Mind. p. 139