Jaganmohanlal Pandita Sadhuwad Granth

Author(s): Sudarshanlal Jain
Publisher: Jaganmohanlal Shastri Sadhuwad Samiti Jabalpur

Page 201

५२ पं० जगन्मोहनलाल शास्त्री साधुवाद ग्रन्थ
[203
not just a few characteristics. If this is so, reality cannot be neatly classified into various categories, as Aristotle tried to do. Reality is too complex, as is every part of it, for man to do so. This means, further, that man cannot have absolute knowledge, either now or in the future. All he can have is sufficiency or enough knowledge of reality to muddle through in his present existence.
The second aspect of Jainism is its metaphysical position which is quite like what described above as monism. To repeat, there is only one category, consciousness, and we find in nature many examples of different degree, types and levels of consciousness. The Jain speaks of the jiva or soul whose essence is consciousness. The perfect soul is one which has overcome all karmas and attained omniscience or the highest level of conscious. ness. At the other end of the spectrum are those imperfect souls which inhabit such elements as earth, fire, and water. To the Westerner the earth is inert and lifeless. It is not to the Jain, however. It too exhibits some degree of consciousness or has a low level of sensuousness.
It is important to note the ultimate outcome or signicance of an empathetic epistemology and a monistic metaphysics. If I know the horse empathetically as an entity in the realm of consciousness, of which I am also a member or part, I will not view the horse as an object to be exploited for my own interest or benefit but as a form of life to be nurtured and cared for in the very best way I can, even though I recognize at the same time the utilitarian value of the horse. But the motive for my treating the horse well is related to the essence of the horse es a being and not the horse's use value.
The example of the horse leads us to the question of the purpose of knowing. I would suggest two answers, knowing in order to appreciate and knowing in order to use, or in its extreme form, to exploit. Knowing in order to appreciate has monism or nondualism as its metaphysical correlate, knowing empathetically as its methodology and altruism as its ethical coorrelate. Knowing in order to use has dialectical dualisim as its metaphysical correlate, knowing empirically and objectively or rationally as its methodology and egoism as its ethical correlate.
A metaphysical monism and an epistemology of empathy are two facets of a complex, a third aspect of which involves the relationship of man to nature. It has already been suggested that a dualistic metaphysics and an objectivist epistemology are two facets of a complex, a third aspect of which assumes man as separate from different from, and master of nature. It now becomes clear that the other metaphysical and epistemological approach has as its correlate the view of man as a part of nature and akin with all other aspects of nature. His task is to bring himself into a state of harmony with nature, rather than dominating it and making it over into what he demands it to be.
The different reactions of two mountain climbers may illustrate this. One, having reached the top by a circuitous and tortuous route, is filled with exultation at having