Outlines of Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 011084
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Jain Mission Society Bangalore
Publication Year: 1954
Total Pages: 195
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 7 MB

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OUTLINES OF JAINA PHILOSOPHY
are not set down in the case of clairvoyance. The faculty of telepathy is far more superior to that of clairvoyance. The Jaina thinkers recognise two varieties of telepathy: rjumati and vipulamati. The latter is purer and everlasting, i.e., lasts up to the dawn of omniscience, whereas the former is less pure and sometimes trembles too. The latter perceives less number of objects than the former but apprehends them more vividly. It is only he who is at the upward stage of spiritual advancement is possessed of the latter, whereas the former is possessed by one who is sure to descend the spiritual ladder. The latter is more lucid than the former.
CLAIRVOYANCE AND TELEPATHY
As regards the subject matter, both clairvoyance and telepathy have reference to material objects. Such being the case, what is the line of demarcation between the two ? The difference of clairvoyance and telepathy consists in the difference of purity, scope, subject, and object. The perception of telepathy is more lucid than the perception of clairvoyance. The person possessing
power of clairvoyance also perceives mind, but the person possessing the faculty of telepathy perceives the same more lucidly. The scope of clairvoyance varies from an extremely minute part of an angula up to the whole inhabited universe. But the scope of telepathy is limited to the sphere inhabited by human beings only. With regard to the difference of subject, the acquisition of clairvoyance is possible for living beings in all the possible states. But the faculty of telepathy is possible only for a human being possessed of self-restraint and of noble conduct occupying a certain stage of spiritual development. In other words, only those who are possessed of super-normal powers acquire this type of perception and not any one else, and again it is possible only for a few and not for all of them. As regards the difference in reference to objects, the jurisdiction of clairvoyance is limited to material objects and that again not covering all their modes, but that of telepathy extends to by far the minuter
parts. 3
1 Tattvārtha-sútra, I, 25. : ibid, I, 26. 3 Commentary on Pramāņa mimāṁsā, I, I, 19.