Aptamimansa

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 47

Verse 9
consciousness ‘this is not that’. Reciprocal non-existence implies the non-pervasion of the nature of a thing in the nature of another thing; for instance the non-pervasion of the nature of a pitcher in the nature of a pillar. There is reciprocal non-existence of a pitcher in a pillar, as these exist. Reciprocal non-existence focuses on the present, i.e., on the present form of substances. The jar and the board are mutually non-existent in each other but the possibility of conversion of one into the other cannot be ruled out. It is possible that after a jar gets destroyed and takes the form of clay, the clay then gets transformed into a board at some point of time. All substances will become 'pervading in everything or allpervading (defect - sarvātmaka)' if reciprocal nonexistence (anyonyābhāva or itaretarābhāva) is not accepted. There is no rule which suggests that either the presence or absence of reciprocal non-existence (anyonyābhāva or itaretarābhāva) will bring about the accomplishment or destruction of an activity. There is reciprocal non-existence (anyonyābhāva or itaretarābhāva) in water and fire but there is no rule that in the absence of water there is fire and in the presence of water there is destruction of fire.
4. Absolute non-existence (atyantābhāva): Absolute nonexistence is the non-existence of something in a substrate through the three times (past, present and future). Thus there is absolute non-existence of colour in air. Absolute non-existence (atyantābhāva) denies the existence, in all the three times, of an attribute of a substance in another substance - for instance the animate nature of the soul (jīva) cannot be found in the non-soul
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