Book Title: Jaina Psychology
Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

Previous | Next

Page 68
________________ CONSCIOUSNESS AND COGNITION simultaneously. Even two perfect conscious activities, viz., perfect apprehension and perfect comprehension are not an exception to this rule. This fact is recorded in the Avaśyaka-niryukti as 'the omniscient cannot have two conscious activities simultaneously'.1 Therefore, as regards the Canonical conception, it is free from doubt that apprehension and comprehension, whether they are sensory or extra-sensory, cannot occur simultaneously. Regarding the occurrence of them in an imperfect person, the Jaina thinkers are unanimous, inasmuch as all of them admit the impossibility of the simultaneous occurrence of apprehension and comprehension in an imperfect being. But with respect to the case of a perfect person (omniscient) there is a controversy among them. Their opinions can be classified into three varieties. Some of them hold that the apprehension and comprehension (both extra-sensory) in an omniscient person occur simultaneously, some stick to the Canonical conception and regard them as successive and not operating at the same time, while others assert that they are mutually identical. Let us deal with all the three. 51 SIMULTANEITY OF APPREHENSION AND COMPREHEN SION It has been observed by Umāsvāti that the conscious activities (upayoga) manifesting themselves as sensory cognition, scriptural cognition, clairvoyance, and telepathy, (mati, śruta, avadhi, and manaḥparyaya) occur successively and not simultaneously. The conscious activities of the omniscient, possessing perfect cognition which comprehends all objects and is independent and pure, occur simultaneously at every moment.2 Umāsvāti, thus, upholds the view of the simultaneous occurrence of apprehension and comprehension in the case of the omniscient. Kundakunda also holds the same view. It is observed by him that the comprehension and apprehension of an omniscient person operate at the same time even as the light and heat of the sun occur simultaneously." Pujyapada is also of the same opinion. According to him, comprehension and apprehension occur in succession in the imperfect who is under the influence of obstructive karma, while in the perfect who is completely free from 1 Avasyaka-niryukti, 973. 2 Tattvärtha-bhāṣya, I, 31. 3 Niyama-sara, 159.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238