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Jaina Karmology
87 (iv) Telepathy or mind-reading knowledge is the knowledge which occurs about the objects in the minds of others without the help of senses. It is finer than clairvoyance. It has two varieties : (i) simple and (ii) complex. (v) Omniscience/Absolute knowledge is the direct, supra-sensory and soul-based knowledge of all objects and modes without the help of senses and mind. It knows about all sorts of objects-tangible and nontangible. It is tri-timal.
The proper or full manifestation of these knowledges is obscured due to the knowledge-obscuring karma.
4. Vidyananda points out a fact in support of the existence of knowledge-obscuring karma. There is difference in the degrees of the above five types of kñowledges among the different categories and classes of living beings despite the fact that the material cause like souls and efficient causes like good body, sermons and practices etc. are commonly available. This difference could only be explained on the basis of some unseen cause which could only be the obscuring karma of knowledge. 5. The five types of knowledges can be divided under two groups : (i) sense-based (ii) supra-sensory. The first two are sense-based ones involving five senses and mind, the last three are supra-sensory, not requiring any external factors for cognition. The pure soul is the cogniser there.
The difference between sensory and verbal/vocable/articulate knowledge is that the earlier one refers to (i) present, (ii) is not articulate or verbal, (iii) it does not refer to previous experience and (iv) it refers to self only. In cantrast, the other could refer to (i) all the times (ii) it is articulate or verbally expressed (iii) it refers to previous experience and (iv) it reveals to the self and others. All knowledges are non-verbal until expressed.
The cognition could be there due to destruction-cumsubsidence of knowledge-obscuring karma through direct or indirect means. There are five external cognitive senses with different functions and having physical and psychical varieties. In addition, mind is the internal cognitive all-purpose quasi-sense. They function through corresponding sense-organs accruing value to specific sub-species of physique-making karma. In contrast, the psychical senses accrue due to the destruction-cum-subsidence of knowledge-obscuring karma. The different activities direct the self to rouse physical sense-organs to function. The duality of senses also applies to mind with similar karmic
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