Jain Journal 1990 07

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

Page 27

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JAIN JOURNAL
From the above, it is apparent that according to the thinkers of the Advaita school, omniscience is not impossible. Sankara has said that to the nature of a liberated soul or Brahman, omniscience, omnipotence etc. (sarvajñatvam, sarvefvaratvanca) are not to be attributed
na caitanyavat svarūpatva-sambhavah
–Vedanta-Sutra-Bhagya, 4-4-6
But he admits that supernaturalities like omniscience etc are possible in a determined (saguna) soul, in a certain stage of its development.
vidyamâname vedam saguna vasthāyāmais varam bhūma-vidya-stutaye samkirtate
–Vedanta-Sūtra-Bhagya, 4-4-11
In other words, Sankara's opinion is that by worshipping the Saguna-Brahma, the worshipper while attaining his likeness etc. (säyujya), becomes possessed of such supernaturalities as Omniscience etc.
saguna-vidya-vipaka-sthānantvetat
-Vedãnta-Sutra-Bhă$va, 4-4-16
The Stage Penultimate to Liberation and Omniscience : The Buddhist View
sarvajñah sugato buddhah dharma-rāja-stathāgatah
The word sarvajña in the above list of Buddha's names shows that although omniscience, according to him, is impossible in a mundane being or in a being who has entered the nirvāna, it is possible in a person in a certain stage of mental development. Neither sensuous knowledge nor inference can yield omniscience ; for, not only is the range of such forms of knowledge limited but they are after all vague and indistinct. Without a full and clear knowledge of objects the knower cannot be said to have attained omniscience. This perfect and the clearest possible knowledge about all the things of the universe has been called the sphutabha knowledge by the Buddhist thinkers. According to them, the sphutābha is due to a direct perception which is peculiar to sages (yogi-pratyakşa). The ordinary knowledge about objects which we get through the pramāņas or empiric sources of knowledge is bhūtartha and to contemplate the bhūtartha again and again is bhūtārtha-bhāvanā. As a result of the bhutartha-bhāvanā, the knowledge of its object comes