Jaina Theory of Knowledge

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyapith Ahmedabad

Page 18

JAINA THEORY OF APPREHENSION
CONSCIOUSNESS AS THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF SOUL :
Consciousness which one would expect to be regarded as the very essence of soul is treated by the Vaisesikas and Naiyayikas as an adventitious (aupadhika) quality, which enters temporarily into soul as a result of the working of the machinery of cognition. Consciousness or knowledge is, thus, something different from soul. This is refuted by the Jaina in the following way :'
If knowledge is supposed to be absolutely distnict from soul, the knowledge of Mr. Caitra is in the same position with respect to his soul as the knowledge of Mr. Maitra, that is to say, both the knowledges would be equally strangers to the soul of Mr. Caitra, and there is no reason why his knowledge should serve him better than the knowledge of any other person in determining the nature of things. In fact, there is no such thing as his own knowledge, all knowledges being equally foreign to him. An explanation may be offered by the Vaisesika : ‘Knowledge is absolutely distinct from soul but it is connected with it by inherent relationship (samavaya-sambhandha) and hence, the knowledge of Mr. Caitra is not in the same position with respect to him as the knowledge of Mr. Maitra, for the former is connected with him by inherence, while the latter is not so'. But this explanation can be easily turned aside. According to the Vaisesika, the category of inherence is one, eternal, and all-pervasive, lo therefore, it is impossible that the knowledge should reside in Caitra and not in