Book Title: Jaina Epistemology
Author(s): Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Previous | Next

Page 395
________________ 370 Epistemology of Jainas The Sārkhya does not believe in the existence of God. But, the yoga system accepts his existence. Though God in the yoga system also is not a creator as it is in the Nyāya; yet, he possesses all the virtues that are the ideal of an aspirant. He is held as omniscient also. But, it is to be decided whether the omniscience ascribed to God is a quality of buddhi or that extraordinary Puruşa (Puruşaviệesa) himself. In the latter case it cannot be conceptual. According to the Vedānta Avidyā contains two powers; i e. the power of obscurance (Āvaranasakti) and the power of projection (Viksepaśakti). Avidyā with the second power is recognised as māyā which is the condition of God. The Absolute Brahman is neither omniscient nor ignorant. It is pure intelligence. The second stage is that of God. He is Brahman conditioned by Māyā. He is omniscient, as Māyā in his case, is without the power of obscurance. Thus, it will be seer, that according to the Vedānta also omniscience is not a state of the pure soul. Another type of omniscience, held by the Vedānta is related with yogins. It is perishable and not essential to liberation. Two types of omoiscience We can see from the above discussion that according to Nyāya and Vedānta there are two types of omniscience. The first type is related with God while the second type is found in the yogin. The first is eternal while the second is the result of yogic practices. One is natural while the other is acquired. One is permanent while the other perishable. The omniscience of God, more or less, is an ethical hypothesis. Those, who have admitted God as creator and controller of the universe, could not assign him that function, without the attribute of omniscience. No control is possible without knowing the subjects under control. The second necessity of admitting God as omniscient arose from the desire to attribute validity to the Vedas on the basis of their being created by God. Those who did not believe in the existence of God had to Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516