Jain Journal 1990 01

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

Page 35

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JAIN JOURNAL
the purity of the self all through its existence by emphasizing its independence.10 Such an ethical point of view must give this picture of the ethical ideal, as its aim is to remind the aspirant of the highest state attainable by him. Moreover we should bear in mind that all partial truths give only abstracted views of reality. So the pure point of view yields only a partial truth about the self. The true way of approach to reality is not identified with such partial comprehensions, nor can it be very distinct from them all ; but lies in an impartial attitude of the knower to all of them. 11 Another implication of the Jaina ethical point of view is a contented fatalisma surrender to what is destined to happen. To hold that what is to happen must happen is sheer tautology, and it cannot be taken to be a reasonable ground for determinism. The world is a series of events, and the flow of such events must go on incessantly. So to say that something must happen to every entity every next moment does not give us a determinism in the true sense of the term. If this something were absolutely determined, there could have been a sense in the above referred fatalistic view of reality. In nature determinism and indeterminism are peacefully united, and there is no chance for the absolute supremacy of the one or the other. Contented fatalism may carry some value for an aspirant from the ethical point of view, but to say that it is the whole truth is unwarranted.
Generally, omniscience is taken to lead to perfect determinism. No doubt there is a relation between knowledge and its objects, but knowledge has nothing to determine the world process. So also omniscience has no causal efficacy to determine the events of the world, we must seek for the determining factors elsewhere. Knowledge cognizes the events pertaining to past, present and future without contributing towards their determination. A better knowledge of the situation yields a better type of comprehension of the events. So the best possible type of knowledge contained in omniscience only gives a correspondence between itself and the events in the world process. This very characteristic of ominiscience has led some thinkers to believe in perfect determinism whithout which, as they think, perfect knowledge is impossible. Omniscience cannot be supposed to have causal efficacy to determine the world process. It does not care whether the world process is determined, undetermined or determined-cum-undetermined ; but it must cognize it as it exists. Every event
10 Kundakunda, Samayasara, verses 16, 43. 11 Amrta Candra, Purusarthasiddhyopaya, verse 8