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cannot fix a particular molecule with that designation; because it will produce the same difficulty. No particle can exceed the maximum limit of duration. Every particle is lost in a volume. It is a question of relativity; but, the whole volume cannot be designed as such. Though no particular molecule lasts for more than the fixed duration; yet, the last molecule is always there. Every molecule, while operating, obscures complete knowledge; but, when it disappears, the resulting knowledge is not complete but incomplete, as other particles are left behind, and new ones are added to them. When new inflow is stopped, and the stored molecules are destroyed, knowledge also increases gradually. All the middle stages are ksāyopaśamikas. But, at the end there comes a stage when the last molecule also is destroyed. The destruction of that molecule means ksaya or complete destruction; which results into kevalajñāna. Thus, we can see that ksāyika state occurs once only. In spite of it the corresponding āvarana is not beginningless.
The comparison of kevalajñāpāvarana with cloud raises another confusion. Does the cloud obscure the sun or the lower world ? Sarvajñātman has beautifully described this confusion. He says, ordinary people hold the sun as obscured by the cloud; while in reality the object of obscurance is their own vision. According to the Vedānta, ignorance about Brahman is the root cause of the apparant world. The sun in that system is compared with the object of ignorance i. o. Brahman and the observer is jiva. But, the Jainas are realists. They do not hold that ignorance of reality projects the apparent world. So, they hold that the object of jñāna as well as ajñāna is the external objective world as well as the knowledge itself. Thus, as far as the knowledge of sva (self) is concerned we can say that the consciousness itself is the locus as well as the object of ignorance. But, in respect of the knowledge of external world the locus and object are different. The self is the locus and the external world the object. Thus, the two views of the Vedānta are more or less reconciled.
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