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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
other words, in spiritual treatises, the distinction between right-cognition and wrong-cognition that is proposed by the science of logic is no doubt admitted but is treated as secondary. For them that distinction is primary according to which right-cognition is the cognition that is conducive to spiritual upgrading or development, while wrong-cognition is the cognition that is conducive to an increment in worldly entanglement or spiritual degradation. This means that the discrimination between rightcognition and wrong-cognition is made from an objective standpoint in the science of logic, while the same is made from a spiritual standpoint in the treatises concerned with matters spiritual. Thus it is just possible that owing to a lack of necessary means a person who is possessed of right attitude (samyaktva) might perchance be in doubt concerning the nature of an object or be under illusion concerning it or be having indistinct cognition concerning it, but inasmuch as he is a seeker after truth and one free from pre-possessions, he is always eager to correct himself--and does correct himself—with the help of an expert personage who is superior to and more authoritative than himself; besides, he chiefly employs his knowledge not for a satisfaction of his carnal desires but in the interest of his spiritual development. In contrast, the nature of a person afflicted with wrong and perverse attitude (mithyātva) is just the opposite of it. Thus owing to the availability of all necessary means such a person might have cognition that is definitive, more extensive and distinct but being under the grip of prepossessions, egoism and pride he is not ready to correct himself even when he realises that he is wrong. He tries to prove what is wrong to be right. Though he finds that his views or actions are wrong, he hesitates to confess to that effect on account of pride. His pride prevents him from abandoning his wrong views, notions and doctrines. Again, he is so attached to them that he cannot renounce them. Under the sway of pride, egoism and attachment to his views, he assumes arrogance and belittles the ideas of an expert and wise personage. This being so, he employs his knowledge not in the interest of his spiritual progress, but for the satisfaction of his worldly ambitions and desires.
All this means that those desirous of spiritual welfare and liberation never swerve from equanimity and always discriminate what is good from what is evil. So they employ their knowledge in the growth of equanimity and not in the increase of worldly desires. On this account, howsoever meagre their knowledge may be, it is regarded as right knowledge because it leads them on the right path of spiritual welfare. On the contrary,
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