Jain Journal 2007 10

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

Page 15

60
JAIN JOURNAL: VOL-XLII. NO.2 OCTOBER 2007
occurs even in the Prasastapāda Bhāsya, it means the Supreme Lord or the Great God as Udayana explains it as mahānisvara in the relevant section of his commentary on the Bhāsva and takes to mean it Parameśvara”!4
anye hišvarā jagad-ekadesa-pataya indru-varuna-vamādavah/ sa punaḥ krtsnasyaiva jagatah ato mahānisvaraḥ (p 91.). parārthapravritena paramesvareņa adhisthitaih prthivyādibhir visvam ārabhyate 1 (p. 97).
Having described in a nutshell the Vaisesika views on salvation, Somnadeva criticises the Saiddhānta Vaišeșika views on salvation by saying that mere faith in something cannot lead to salvation, just as the faith of a hungry fellow cannot make the Udumbara fruit ripe's :
sraddhā srevo'rthinām sreyah-samśravāya na kevalā / bubiksitavasat pako jayeta kim Lidumbare //
He also criticises the Tārkika Vaišeșika saying that knowledge alone cannot lead to salvation, because knowledge helps one to comprehend things, but not to get them, just as mere perception of water does not satisfy one's thirst".
jñānād avugamo'rthānāṁ na tat-kõrva-sumāgamaḥ/ tarṣāpakurşavogi svād drętam evānyathā pavaḥ//
"It may be readilly admitted," says K. K. Handiqui, “that there is no knowledge or bliss of a worldly character in salvation, but if it is assumed to be a condition in which knowledge is totally absent, what would be the character of the emancipated soul ? There connot be a soul without knowledge, just as there cannot be fire without heat.17"
In this way, Somadeva rejects the Vaiseșika view of salvation before he passes on to another system of Indian philosophy.
14. Handiqui, ibid, p. 219 1. 15. Handiqui, ibid. p. 186. 16. Handiqui, ibid. p. 187. 17. Handiqui, ibid. p. 187.
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