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JAINA PHILOSOPHY : AN INTRODUCTION
Caitanya (consciousness) which one would expect to be regarded as the very essence of ātman (soul) is treated by the Vaiseșikas and Naiyāyikas as an adventitious (aupādhika) quality' which comes temporarily into the soul as a result of the working of the machinery of cognition. Caitanya or Jñāna is, thus, something different from ātman (soul). This view is refuted in the following way :
If jñāna is supposed to be absolutely distinct from ātman, the jñāna of Mr. Caitra is in the same position with respect to his ātman as the jñāna of Mr. Maitra, that is to say, both the jñānas would be equally strangers to the ātman of Mr. Caitra, and there is no reason why his jñāna should serve him better than the jñāna of any other person in determining the nature of things. In fact, there is no such thing as his own jñāna, all jñānas being equally foreign to him. An explanation may be offered by the other side : Jñāna is absolutely distinct from ātman, but it is connected with ātman by samavāya-sambandha (inherent relationship), and hence, the jñāna of Mr. Caitra is not in the same position with respect to him as the jñāna of Mr. Maitra; for the former is connected with him by samavāya relation, while the latter is not so. But this explanation can be easily refuted. According to the Vaiseșika, samavāya is one, eternal and all-pervasive, and therefore, it is impossible that the jñāna should reside in Caitra and not in Maitra; and since the souls are also all-pervasive according to this school, the jñāna which takes place in one ātman takes place in all the ātmans as well and any knowledge which Caitra has acquired will belong to Maitra also.
Granted it is possible for jñāna to be connected with ätman by samavāya relation. But a question still remains to be answered : By what relation is the samavāva connected
1. Caitanyamaupādhikamātmanonyat.
- Anyayoga-vyavaccheda-dvåtrimśikā, 8. 2. Samavävasvaikatvannitvatvādvväpakatacca.
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