Jaina Theory of Knowledge

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

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JAINA THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
phenomena as clairvoyance, telepathy, clairaudience and the like have been recorded to prove the validity of the occurrence of extra-sensory perception. 'Clairvoyance and telepathy are a primary datum of scientific observation. Those endowed with this power grasp the secret thoughts of other individuals without using their sense-organs. They also perceive events more or less remote in space and time. This quality is exceptional. It develops in only a small number of human beings. But many possess it in a rudimental state. They use it without effort and in a spontaneous fashion'. 58
Sensory and mental comprehension, as we have already discussed, is of the rank of normal cognition conditioned by the senses and mind. The following three varieties fall in the category of extra-sensory perception, i.e., super-normal cognition. They are limited direct perception (avadhi), direct perception of mental processes (manahparyaya), and perfect perception (kevala). In the language of parapsychology, ‘limited direct perception' and 'direct perception of mental processes' can be called clairvoyance (including clairaudience and the like) and telepathy respectively. Perfect perception is nothing but omniscience.
The self, according to the Jaina, has the inherent capacity to know all things irrespective of time and space. Temporal and spatial distances are immaterial if the self were in all perfection. To put it in a different language, the self is inherently capable of cognising all things together