Book Title: Introduction to Jainism and its Culture
Author(s): Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 41
________________ apparent part, soul is ineffable and incorporeal. But it can be experienced through introversion. It has no beginning and no end, it is beyond the reach of sense organs and a completely sentient substance. In conclusion it can be said that first four of the aforesaid dispositions are the results of by suppression, destruction, destructioncum-suppression, and fruition of karmas. However, beyond any physical or metaphysical influence, the pāriṇāmika disposition is absolutely independent and natural. It is the intrinsic nature of soul. The purity in this disposition is not achieved by removing impurity as in kśayika disposition. Thus there is a marked difference in the purity of the two. THE PROCESS OF KNOWING A THING There are two means of knowing a thing - pramāņa (absolute and exclusive validity) and naya (partial validity). Of these, pramāņa is a process of knowing a thing in its entirety or in a holistic manner. The process may involve knowing a thing through just one attribute but with the help of that one attribute it knows that entire thing. Naya is one part of pramāņa. A thing that is known through pramāṇa in holistic manner is broken into parts and a single part or condition is known through naya. Thus the process of knowing a thing in its composite form is pramāņa and to know just a constituent part of it is naya. The term naya has also been defined many other ways. The intent of a speaker is also called naya. Alternatives of inferences arrived at through pramana are also called naya. There are two categories of pramāņa - (1) pratyakśa (direct) and (2) paroksa (indirect). Generally speaking to perceive and know a thing with the help of sense organs and mind is called pratyaksa jñāna or direct knowledge. The knowledge of things that are beyond the reach of these organs is called paroksa jñāna or indirect knowledge. But in Jain philosophy pratyakśa jñāna is that for which soul is not dependent on sense organs, mind, or any other outside factor like light. Thus the knowledge that is independent of any outside factor is pratyaksa or direct and that which is dependent on these is paroksa or indirect. Everything is its own cause in its transformation. Although the ability transform develops with the help of motive cause, but transformations through motive cause are not considered worthy and 24 to Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334