Gandharavada

SR No.: 006739
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Esther A Solomon
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyasabha
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 400
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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ing; and at times does not have their knowledge if it is absentminded even when the sense-organs are functioning with reference to objects. A person has a vision at times of things not seen or heard of before. This shows that knowledge is the very nature of our own soul. Even the person who raises such a doubt must have this experience and it is surprising that this could possibly be questiond. And as one's own soul is of the nature of knowledge so must be the soul of others also, that is to say, the soul in other bodies also; for we find the same kind of action and inaction, efforts to reach a desired thing and repulsion from a thing not desired. This means that the souls in other bodies are of the nature of knowledge as is our own (1998).
· Not only is the emancipated soul a knower, but it is also omniscient. As long as a soul is in an embodied condition, is not free from passions, etc., there are veils which obstruct its knowledge, and so there are gradations in its knowledge in proportion to the lemoval of this veil, but when it has freed itself from the body and has no sense-organ, all the veils are removed, the soul becomes purer and therefore has perfect illumination of omniscience, like the sun who has freed himself from all the obstructing clouds. The sense-organs, on the other hand, are not of the nature of knowledge, so even when they are not there, there is no lack of knowledge in the soul, which would have been the case if they were of the nature of knowledge. Thus it is clear that the emancipated soul is not a non-knower because there is no sense-organ then (1999).
· If a lamp is covered with a vessel having holes, it can shine, radiate light only through these holes, but can not manifest all its light; similarly the soul's illumination in the bound condition is in an obscured state and can only reveal itself through the outlets of the sense-organs as there is subsidence-cumdestruction of the obscuring factors (2000).
But the emancipated soul has all its veils removed, so its illumination is perfect, that is to say, it is omniscient, it can