Jain Journal 2002 10

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

Page 24

Jagdish Prasad Jain "Sadhak: Jaina Perspective on Advaita Vedanta
ferent substances, existence has been regarded as an all-compromising characteristic of reality, which ends all distinctions.
The Kärttikeyanuprekṣā recognises that all substances are one from the standpoint of substance, while they are distinct and separate from their characteristic differences." Samantabhadra also endorses this view by affirming that in view of the conception of one universal existence all are one, but from the point of view of substances distinctions arise.10
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Padmaprabha Maladhārideva pronounces that mahāsatta pervades all the things in their entirety, but it is always associated with Avantarasatta which pervades only the particular objects." In a similar vein, Amṛtacandra speaks of two types of sattā, namely, svarūpasattā and sadṛś yasatta. The latter is the same as samanyasatta. In the Saptabhangitarangiņi Vimaladāsa discusses the problem of unity and plurality of existence in detail, and concludes that both the postulation of existential identity and the articulation of differences from the standpoint of different substances are logically necessary and justifiable.12 Thus, Jainism gives credence to the recognitition of existential oneness, but not exclusively, since it is always bound up with plurality. This is quite consistent with the Anekāntātmaka view of reality propounded by the Jain philosophers. Thus mahāsattā will be associated with its opposite, namely aväntarasattā. It may again be pointed out that this mahāsattā is not an independent something, as may be conceived, but is invariably accompanied by its opposite. 13 Kundakunda holds the nature of existence as one, immanent in the totality of substances constituting the universe, comprehending and summarizing the universe, having infinite modifications, indicative of the triple characteristics of organisation, destruction, and persistence and associated with the characteristics opposite to those mentioned above. Hence unity, duality, and plurality - all are in
9. Svami Kumar, Kārttikeyanuprekṣā, Gāthā 236, edited by A.N. Upadhye and Kailash Chandra Shastri, Paramshruta Prabhavak Mandal (Agas: Shrimad Rajachandra Ashram, 1990), pp. 167-168.
10. Samantabhadra, Aptamimānsā, 34.
11. Commentary on Gatha 34 of Niyamasara of Kundakunda, Kahan Digambara Jain Tirtha Suraksha Trust, Jaipur.
12. Vimaladāsa. Saptabhangiņi (Agas: Shrimad Rajachandra Ashram, 1977), p.
78.
13. Rajamalla, Pañcādhyāyi, I, 15, Malika Granthpraksh Karyalaya, Indore. 14. Kundakunda, Pañcästikäyasamgraha, Gatha 8, ed.. Mannulal Jain (Delhi : Bharatiya Jnanapith, 2000), pp. 24-25.