Jaina Concept of Omniscience

Author(s): Ramjee Singh
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 53

THE BELIEVERS IN OMNISCIENCE
ther he knows about the desirable goal. He ridicules the idea of total omniscience and asks “what is use of knowing the infinite number of insects and worms for our spiritual realisation ?”47 and concludes that “true knowledge consists in knowing about what is desirable and what is not along with their causes, e.g., the four noble truths of Buddha."48
The motive behind Dharmakirti's stress on knowledge of dharma is to counter-act Kumārila's saying that he does not set aside omniscience as knowledge of everything. What he means is the denial of omniscience only in matters of dharma. The same idea is expressed in the Hindu epic by the term “dharmajñatā". This view is in opposition to the view of the Mimāṁsakas. The Jainas also accept that omniscience consists in the true knowledge of the ultimate principles of morality49 and reality (namely, Ahimsā ānd Anekanta) but this is so because all-knowledge will automatically comprehend the knowlede of duty and reality. This challenge to the Buddhistic position has led the later Buddhistic scholars like Prajñākaragupta, 50 Sāntaraksita 51 and others define and prove Buddha's omniscience in terms of knowledge of all objects of all the times.
(E) The Yogic Approach
In the Nyāya-Vaiseșika, Sārkhya-Yoga, Tantras and the yogic literature of Buddhism and Jainism, we find reference to Yogic disciplines, which if perfected can enable one to
47 Dharmakjrti, Pramāņa Vārtika, ed. Rahula Sankrtyāyana, Allahabad
Kitab Mahal, 1943), I. 33. 48 Ibid., II. 34. 49 Satkhandagama, ed. (Amaravati, 1939), Sut. 78 (Payadi-Sūtra). 50 Prajñākaragupta, Pramāna-Vartika-bhāşya (Vartikalankāra), (Patna.
K. P. J. R. I., Tibetan Sanskrt Series Vol. III), p. 29.
51 Śaptarakṣita, Tattvasangraha, Trans. G. N. Jhā, Baroda, G.O.S., 1939,
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