________________
Para-psychology and Jainism
163
Then we come to Extra-sensory perception : clairvoyance, Telepathy and Omniscience. “Empirical or sensory perception is conditioned by the senses and mind as is limited"?, but Extra-sensory perception transcends the general laws of space, time and other conditions of normal perception. “Opinion in the West is yet divided on the question whether paranormal powers are biologically primitive and present in the organism or they are outgrown and replaced, or they are the latest acquisitions."2 Except the materialist Carvākas and the scripturalist Mimamsakas, all systems of Indian Philosophy believe in Extra-sensory perceptions. Extra-sensory perception is a form of Direct perception. It may sound odd. But this follows from the very conception of the Jainas that the basis of all knowledge is self. And "if the soul has the capacity to know, it must know independently of any external condition. It is as independent as existence.3 It is like a lamp which illuminates itself. It is not a spatial or temporal relation but a capacity. Space and time are no doubt principles of physical limitations which disappear with the stoppage of Karmic influx into the soul and their shedding. “The ( full ) manifestation of the innate nature of a conscious self, emerging on the total cessation of all obstructive veils, is called” that (intuition ) transcendent and pure."4 This transcended and pure knowledge is of two kinds-Absolute ( Sakala ) and
1. Manikya Nandi : Pariksämukharn with Prameya-Ratna
-mala, Commentary of Ananta Virya (Ed. & English trans. S. C. Ghosal ), The Central Jaina Publishing
House, Lucknow, 1940. 2. Akolakar, V. V. : “Scientific Psychology and Indian
Thought", Address to the Psychology Section of the
Indian Philosophical Congress, Cuttuck, 1959. 3. Tatia N. M.: Studies in Jainism, Ibid. 4. Hemachandra : Pramāna-Mimāṁsā (Ed. and English
trans, S. Mookerjee and N. M. Tatia ), Bharati Jaina Parishat, Calcutta, 1946.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
