Jain Journal 1972 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 26

APRIL, 1972
163
emergence of the samyak darśana that knowledge can become true knowledge ; for in the absence of samyak darśana, the jīva lacks the power of knowing the real nature of things, and hence what knowledge it has already acquired cannot be called true knowledge. It is only after samyak darśana has evolved that the knowledge of the jīva can be called samyak jñāna or right knowledge.
Knowledge is of five kinds ; (1) Mati-jñāna, (2) Sruta-jñāna, (3) Avadhi-jñāna, (4) Manahparyāya-jñāna and (5) Kevala-jñāna. The knowledge which is acquired by means of the sense organs and the power of the mind is called mati-jñāna. That, which is acquired by the study of words and their meanings is called śruta-jñāna. Like matijñāna, śruta-jñāna is also acquired by means of the senses and the mental powers; and the śruta-jñāna of a thing cannot be had unless there has already been mati-jñāna of it. But the scope and nature of śrutajñāna is wider and more distinct than those of mati-jñāna, for, śrutajñāna comprehends a study of words and their meanings. The knowledge which is acquired by study of books and scriptures and by listening to men of wisdom, is also called śruta-jñāna. The knowledge by which one can know all embodied objects within certain limits of space, and without the help of the mind and the senses, is called avadhi-jñāna. It is a kind of spiritual knowledge. When this knowledge develops, one can see, even with one's eyes closed, all things which are not form-less, and within certain boundaries of space. The knowledge by which, even without the help of the mind and the senses, one can know the psychological movements of the creatures within certain fixed limits, is called manahparyāya-jñāna. This too is a kind of spiritual knowledge. The knowledge by which, without any aid whatever of the mind and the senses, one can know all things contained in the loka and the aloka, all things past, present and future, possessing form and without form, and in all their attributes and categories, is called kevala-jñāna. This is spiritual knowledge par excellence. When the four kinds of karmajñānāvaraṇīya, darśanāvaraṇīya, mohanīya and antarāya—are completely exhausted, the intrinsic knowledge of the soul, the kevala-jñāna, reveals itself. This state of knowledge of the soul is called the jīvanmukta state. Once this state is realised, the jīva is sure to attain mukti or nirvāņa (liberation) when the remaining span of its life comes to an end. The Tīrthankaras were, in this sense jīvanmuktas, and endowed with kevala-jñāna—all knowing and all-seeing.
Samyak Cāritra (Right Character and Conduct) :
· Self-discipline, renunciation, repression of the senses and unblemished conduct are called caritra. The self-discipline, renunciation,