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Āptamīmāṁsā
That by which substances (souls and non-souls) are rightly known, or knowledge alone, is pramāna:
तत्त्वज्ञानं प्रमाणं ते युगपत्सर्वभासनम् । क्रमभावि च यज्ज्ञानं स्याद्वादनयसंस्कृतम् ॥ १०१ ॥
सामान्यार्थ – हे भगवन् ! आपके मत में तत्त्वज्ञान को प्रमाण कहा गया है। तत्त्वज्ञान दो प्रकार का है - अक्रमभावी और क्रमभावी । जो ज्ञान एक साथ (युगपत्) सम्पूर्ण पदार्थों को जानता है, ऐसा प्रत्यक्ष केवलज्ञान अक्रमभावी है। जो ज्ञान (मतिज्ञान आदि) क्रम से पदार्थों को जानता है वह क्रमभावी है। क्रमभावी ज्ञान स्याद्वाद और नय दोनों से संस्कृत होता है।
O Lord! As per your teaching, that by which substances (souls and non-souls) are rightly known, or knowledge alone, is pramāna (lit. the method of knowledge). Pramana is of two kinds: first, direct (pratyaksa) – omniscience (kevalajñāna) which knows the whole range of objects of knowledge simultaneously, without gradation ( akramabhāvī), and second, indirect (paroksa), which knows the objects of knowledge partially and in succession (kramabhāvī). Knowledge in succession features the doctrine of conditional predications - syadvāda, and ascertainment, without contradiction, of one particular state or mode of the object, called naya.
The ordinary human being cannot rise above the limitations of his senses; his apprehension of reality is partial and it is valid only from a particular viewpoint. This leads to the nayavāda of the Jainas. When ordinary human knowledge is partial, a new method of stating our approach to the complex reality had to be devised, and that is syadvāda, the doctrine of conditional
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