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Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
meditation. It is of primary use for the layman in comparision to the omniscients. Similarly, the consciousness is also primary for the worldly beings.
(e) The worldly beings have been placed first because they have many varieties, they are predecessors of the liberated beings and they have selfexperiencing capacity.
The word 'of the living' (Jivasya) is also supplied here from the earlier aphorism so that it could mean that there are two kinds of livings beings. 3. There is plural number in each part of the aphorism. This indicates that both types of the living ones are many and not one, as is presumed by the monists. The monism seems to be contrary with respect to direct observation and inference etc.
The worldly beings cannot be one as there will be chaos with regard to the births and death of the people. For example, if one dies, everybody should die. The maniness of the living beings cannot be said to be illusory, as it is not realised by all. The ignorance could not be the cause of this realisation as its destruction by one will lead to this by all. This does not, however, occur. Moreover, the different forms of worldly beings are seen in the world in different ways. Similarly, the liberated beings can also not be one as it will invalidate the efforts for liberation by all. We observe the differences between the liberation-aspirers and the liberated ones. The concept of merging of the liberated in the super-soul leads to the dissolution and, therefore, nonpermanancy of soul - an undesirable issue.
The worldly beings are infinite times the number of liberated ones.
4.
The addition-compounding of 2.10 is infested with additional flaws also- (I) the liberated ones will also become worldly (ii) futility of observing austerities etc. and (iii) contratriety with self-experience of non-liberated character.
2.
5. The aphorism 2.10 also cannot be in the singular form as it would entail the same flaws of undesirable nature as above.
6. The word 'ca' may have either or all the four purposes- (i) aggregation (ii) matural conjunction (iii) secondary character and (iv) conjunction. While Akalanka points out its utility in terms of secondary character of functional consciousness in the liberated ones, Vidyananda has an additional point. According to him, the word 'ca' is there to include two more categories of the living beings besides the two mentioned. They are- (i) quasi-worldly beings also like those at the thirteenth spiritual stage (they are going to be liberated in the same birth) and (ii) omniscients without activity (i.e. living beings at the 14th stage, to be liberated in an Antarmuhurta's time). They are different form the worldly and liberated beings in many respects.
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