Indian Philosophy

SR No.: 006972
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Sanskrit Sanskriti Granthmala
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 162
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 14 MB

Page 60

CONCEPTION OF IŚVARA...
51
becomes automatically perfect and when vivekajñāna becomes perfect there is removal of all the āvaranas and malas. This means that (perfect) vivekajñāna is nothing but ananta-jñāna.
Thus to say that niratiśaya-jñāna (=ananta-jñāna) is the seed of sarvajña-jñāna is the same thing as to say that sarvajña-jñāna is vivekaja. Another name for sarvajña jñāna is tāraka-jñāna. Patañjali explicitly states that tāraka-jñāna is vivekaja'. As he has placed it in his treatment of siddhis, it becomes quite clear that he considers it to be simply a siddhi.
Why is ananta-jñāna i.e. vivekajñāna regarded as the seed of sarvajña-jñana ? There is a good reason for that. Patañjali wants to suggest that sarvajña-jñāna does never automatically follow on the attainment of ananta jñāna. As soon as one attains ananta-jñāna one acquires the capacity (=labdhi) to know all, but he does not actually know all. He knows all provided he performs samyama (dhāraņā, dhyāna and samādhi) on kşaņa and ksanakramal. This means that the capacity to know all functions under a specific condition. If jñāna were to become automatically sarvajña on its becoming ananta, then ananta jñāna would not have been regarded as the seed of sarvajña jñāna; in that case it would have been regarded as identical with sarvajña-jñāna. But this being not the case, ananta jñāna is regarded as the seed of sarvajña-jñāna.
. On the attainment of Dharmamegha samādhi all the klesas and karmas get completely destroyed, and as soon as all the klešas and karmas are destroyed the jñāna becomes ananta because all the obscuring veils and impurities have already been destroyed. The person who has attained this ananta-jñāna acquires the capacity to know all but this capacity functions only if he performs a special type of samyama.
All this discussion clearly suggests that a viveki who has attained Dharmamegha samadhi is Isvara, and it is he who is described in the aphorism on hand. Thus Isvara is not necessarily sarvajña; he becomes sarvajña only when he performs that samyama. In other words, he has the capacity to know all, but this capacity functions provided certain conditions are fulfilled. This capacity to know all is a siddhi which is the result of his attainment of anantajñāna. Thus he is invariably characterized by ananta-jñāna but he is not invariably characterized by sarvajña-jñāna.