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 the purity of sattva which again depends upon the lesser or greater influence of rajas and tamas.
According to the Yoga-system there are five activities of mind. The state of ignorance also is one of them. The gradation in knowledge depends upon the first activity i. e. pramāņa.
The Advaita Vedānta holds avidyā or ajñāna as a positive -category, which is neither permanent like Brahman nor nonexistent like lotus in the sky. It coosists of two powers, namely the power of obscurance (ā varanasakti) and the power of projection (viksepa sakti). We have already discussed the latter which is responsible for imposition or mithyājñāna. At present we are concerned with the power of obscurance, which conceals the reality. At realization, as we have stated, obscurance is destroyed totally and reality is revealed. It does not present any difficulty in its explanation. We have to discuss particularly the discursive knowledge of external objects, known as vịttijñāna, Brahman is one and the ajñāna obscuring it also is one. If it is removed at the first cognition, there should be no further obscurance. There are five views to explain this difficulty.
1. According to the first view Vșttijñāna is like a flash of glow-warm in the all-covering universal darkness. It destroys ajñāna in a very small part only that also for a moment.
2. According to the second view the ajñāna contracts like a mat and spreads again when the cause of that contraction disappears.
3. The third view maintains that ajñāna flees away like a defeated soldier and comes again when the cause of fear is no more.
4. The fourth view holds that ajñāna by nature is not able to obscure that region of reality which is occupied by vrtti. It obscures only that region as is free from vștti.
5. According to the fifth view, which is the most popular there are two types of ajñāna, Mūlājñāna (root ignorance) and Tūlājñāda (temporary ignorance) or avasthājñāna (pheno