________________
384
Jaina Philosophy and Religion
i.e., with all its attributes taken simultaneously; in the latter, Reality or a thing is treated analytically, i.e., with its attributes taken one by one. Therefore, the former is called comprehensive or full-orbed statement (sakalādeśa), whereas the latter is called incomprehensive statement (vikalādeśa). It is because the former grasps the whole Reality or a thing through one attribute which is related to or united with all other attributes, while the latter grasps only one attribute as abstracted from all others. The former is, therefore, known as pramāṇa-vakya or Proposition of the whole Truth, while the latter is called naya-vakya or Proposition leading to the whole Truth, i.e., the proposition of a particular viewpoint. In other words, the former depends upon pramāṇa, i.e., the view of the whole Truth or full-orbed Reality, while the latter depends upon naya, i.e., the view of the partial Truth or fragments of Reality. For example, the term 'va' ('soul') causes the knowledge of the concrete java with all its special characteristics like knowledge, intuitive vision, etc., with all its common characteristics like existence, knowability, etc., and with all its special-cum-common characteristics like incorporeality, possession of innumerable space-points, etc. In this all these attributes are grasped as one undifferentiated whole. Hence the intention of the speaker to present these attributes or characteristics in primary and secondary relation gets absorbed in his mind. The incomprehensive statement or the statement of a particular viewpoint presents one attribute primarily or principally and all others are subordinated to it. For example, 'cetana jiva' ('sentient soul') or jñātā jīva' ('knower soul') generates the knowledge of soul's quality of sentiency or knowledge principally and all other attributes of
the soul are subordinated to it.
Thus, we see that the statements are of two types, viz. statement of the whole Truth (pramāņa-vākya) and statement of a particular viewpoint or a partial Truth (naya-vākya). The statement that presents concretely or synthetically a thing in its entirety is called pramāṇa-vākya. And the statement that presents a thing partly, abstracting some aspect of it is called naya-vakya. The difference between these two statements is to be known not on the basis of outward verbal forms, but on the basis of the speaker's internal mental states or intentions. When we present synthetically the whole Reality or a thing in words, the statement is called pramāṇa-vākya. On the other hand, when we present some one aspect or attribute in words, the statement is called naya-vākya. Naya-vākya (incomprehensive statement-vikalādeśa) presents Reality or a thing through some one as
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
