Jaina Concept of Omniscience

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

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CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORISATION
desire of some Buddhists which motivated them to declare Buddha to be the knower of everything. I, therefore, quite agree with Pt. Sukhalālaji that the religious rivalry existing at that time motivated the rival religions to claim for their prophet this kind of omniscience.2 • This seems to be true of Jainism as well as of Buddhism and it explains the psychology behind the attempt to treat omniscience as knowledge of each and every details of the universe.*?
As I have already pointed out, this interpretation of omniscience does exalt it to such a height which may seem unreachable to many. It is likely, therefore, that this interpretation may not be acceptable to the logical mind, It is not that this fact was not noted by the Jaina logicians; rather they were clever enough to anticipate the reactions of the possible objectors and they also tried, in their own way, to manufacture explanations and justifications to take care of possible objections. In this attempt of theirs, they had to bring in many logical subtleties and complexities. No body can say, however, that they completely succeeded in this venture
It is one of the most fundamental things in Jain philosophy, accroding to many Jaina thinkers, that what matters is not the knowledge of this thing or that thing, but the complete knowledge of all aspects of reality. Therefore it is not of much use if it is said that this prophet knows more than that prophet. What is important is the possession of complete or full knowledge of reality by the prophet. It is held that "you cannot know a single thing in its entirety unless you know all : thus one and the all are organically related, and so the knowledge of one
26 Sukhalālaji, “Sarvajñatva Aur Uska Artha", Darsana Aur Chintana,
(Sukhalalaji Sanmāna Samiti, Ahmedabad, 1957), pp. 554-555. 27 We can note the difference of attitude between Dharmakirti and
Prajñākara Gupta. The former treats Buddha as knower of the four noble truths only, (Pramāņavārtika, II. 32-33) while the latter ca!13 Buddha as the knower of all individual details (Vartikalankara on above ).