Jain Journal 1977 01

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

Page 24

JANUARY, 1977
95
all the cosmic things and phenomena are ever present in its consciousness. The omniscience of the Lord, however, is not of this sort. His omniscience is eternal; in it are ever present all the objects and occurrences of all times and places. The liberated soul has not this kind of omniscience, this is the view of the Vedantists of the 'Dvaita' or dualistic, the Dvaitadvaita' or dualistico-monist and the 'Visistadvaita' or differentiated monistic schools. The Advaita or the absolutely monistic schools of the Vedanta also attribute such an omniscience to the highly developed worshippers of the saguna Brahman and we believe such an omniscience, --and nothing more than that,--has been said to be attainable in the samūhālambana of the Nyaya, the ārşa-jñāna of the Vaisesika, the prātibha of the Sankhya and the Yoga and the yogi-pratyaksa of the Buddhist.
The Liberated State and Omniscience: The Jaina View
That the unliberated Jiva's wandering in the samsāra are not omniscient is a matter of common experience and has been admitted in the Jaina philosophy, just in all other systems. There is a remarkable unanimity between the Jainas who repudiate the authority of the Vedas and the Mimamsakas who are firm supporters of the Vedic orthodoxy and rituatism, regarding the doctrines that the Jiva's have been wandering from the beginningless time in the samsāra, driven by the forces of their karmas and that there is no Creator of this universe. But although the Jainas agree with the Mimamsakas in admitting the inexorableness of the law of karma and repudiating the Creatorship or the Governorship of Išvara, they do not like to be looked upon as atheists like the latter. In the theistic school of the Vedic philosophy, besides the creation of the world, another function is ascribed to God. The Vedas are the source of dharma, i.e., the knowledge of duty and God is said to be the author or the revealer of the Vedas. Accordingly, God is the Seer of the dharma and the first Teacher. While proving the omnipotence of Brahman (sarvajñatvam sarva-saktitvañceti), Sankara quotes from the Sruti:
asya mahato bhūtasya-nihsvasitametad
-Rgvedah
and says that the Vedas and the scriptures have, like breath emerged from the Great Being,—the Isvara or the Brahman. In describing the infallibility of the Vedas, the author of the Nyāya-Sūtra says:
tat-pramānyam-pramānyat
-Nyāya-Sutram, 2-1-68