Book Title: Jain Journal 1968 04
Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Previous | Next

Page 109
________________ APRIL, 1968 253 chaos To this the Jaina replies Not necessarily so For many may cooperate to produce a single result, e.g, the bees that make their hive. (3) Since his making takes place in all parts of the universe, he must be supposed to be everywhere and he must be also all-knowing If he is everywhere, he, says the Jaina, absorbs everything into his own self leaving nothing to exist outside it If he knows everything he knows, we suppose, even hell and knowledge in his case being direct experience, he is supposed to experience hell The Jaina continues, we may agree that certain souls are all-knowing, in which case, God would be one of such souls, that is to say, he would be on a par with emancipated souls "But mark", says Mallisensa, the commentator revising his position, "that knowledge does not actually travel from the knower to the known, and therefore, ominscience does not necessarily involve omnipresence Moreover, what is the proof of his omniscience ?-he asks It cannot be pratyakşa unless we ourselves are omniscient or become so in process It cannot be anumāna, for you cannot argue from the finite to infinite It cannot be arthapattı, that is, a hypothesis or assumption necessary for explaining the wonderful variety and richness of the world For, the adṛşta of living beings including the vegetable kingdom will explain one part of it and the remaining part which belongs to the inanimate kingdom may well be existing eternally so and eventually become the object of the joys and sorrows of the sentient beings It cannot be sabda or the authoritative text of the sacred scriptures for, the scriptures on which you rely are full of contradictions (4) By the very nature of the case he is said to be independent Then why does he create a world so full of misery and inequalities unless he is wantonly cruel and unjust If misery is punishment for a foul deed and inequality is due to our varying karmans, this hypothesis of karma will suffice to explain everything and God will be superfluous (5) He is said to be eternal If so, he should be eternally active, or eternally inactive In the former case, his work would at no point be finished and so nothing could be ever accomplished In the latter case, nothing could ever begin Moreover, how could he have eternally conflicting natures viz., making and unmaking at the same time. St VII Next doctrine of the Vaiseşikas to be criticised is that of samavaya also called vṛtti which is supposed to connect two absolutely

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 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