________________
214 Harmless Souls their referents). In reality, he has no physical or metaphysical contact with them, or they with him.99 That is to say, there is no activity on the part of the liberated self, or - as the Tattvadipikā points out - it never leaves its svatattva. 100
This inactivity of the self includes 'knowing'; indeed, there is no 'knowing' as such (in the sense of process) for the pure self; for, since the knower (i.e. the self) has knowledge as its own nature, 101 it does not have to do anything in order to know apart from realise its true nature. This relationship is confirmed by gāthā 1:27:
The doctrine is proclaimed that knowledge is the self; without the self there is no knowledge. Therefore, knowledge is the self; but the self is knowledge or anything else. 102
(The Tattvadīpikā explains that the self, 'being the seat of innumerable properties', 103 may be knowledge owing to the dharma of knowledge, or owing to some other dharma it may be something else. 104 In other words, the self and knowledge are co-extensive, but the latter does not define the former, which is actually and potentially much greater.)
The non-knowingness of this ātman (= jñāna) is further
99 Sarve 'rthās tadgatā ity upacaryante, na ca teşām paramārthato 'nyonyagamanam asti, sarvadravyāņām svarūpanişthatvāt - .... objects are said metaphorically to belong to him ... but in the real sense of the word there is no mutual going towards each other, since all substances abide in their own characteristic-nature' - Faddegon's trans., p. 16.
100 Ibid. Indeed, at one level, ontological description as such is probably irrelevant to Kundakunda's purpose here which, like that of much, if not all, 'mystical' teaching, is to engender in the audience a particular attitude or transformation of consciousness. In other words, the teaching is itself directly instrumental in self-realisation: conventional or partial knowledge helps to liberate absolute knowledge.
101 ņāņi nānasahāvo / jñānī jñānasvabhāvaḥ - Pravac. 1:28. 102 Translation after Upadhye p. 4.
103 Faddegon's trans., p. 16, of anantadharmādhisthānatvāt - TD on 1:27.
104 jñānam anyadharmadvāreņānyad api syāt - ibid.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
