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212 Harmless Souls
interference'. He goes on to say that such knowledge is
compared to a mirror in which every one of the innumerable existents (dravya), in all its qualities (gunas) and modes (paryayas), is simultaneously reflected. These 'knowables' are cognised without any volition whatsoever on the part of the arhat. Furthermore, no activity of senses or mind is involved; there is only direct perception by the soul.94
Omniscience is thus the natural state of the soul, in the sense that, when all karmic obstruction is removed, that kind of knowledge automatically obtains. To put it another way, omniscience is not something to be striven for or attained, in the sense of being some quality which is added to or gained by the agent or knower, rather it is something to be realised or revealed (through the shedding of karman) as the original nature of the self. Moreover, since the jīva has, in reality, no physical relation with anything ajīva - their relation is that of the knower and the knowable -, it is apparent that in its fundamental nature the soul has never been anything but omniscient. And to achieve that omniscience it is only necessary to realise it, through meditation on the true nature of the self and its relationship with the world of matter. Again this seems tantamount to saying that karmic bondage - the adherence of matter to the jiva is fundamentally unreal, a mistake or delusion. For while on one level the realisation of the original nature of the self shines through when obstructive karman is removed, on another it is that very realisation which is instrumental in removing obstructive karman, through the perception that in reality karman cannot obstruct the pure self.
Referring to Kundakunda's Niyamasära (159 = 158 SBJ ed.), P.S. Jaini remarks that the defining mark of the omniscient being is 'complete self-knowledge ...; any other
94
JPP p. 266.
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