Jaina Theory of Knowledge

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

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JAINA THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
ordinary person. It is conditioned by a strict mental and physical discipline. The Jaina prescribes a definite course of character that is essential in acquiring the capacity to cognise the contents of the different states of minds. The person possessing the faculty of telepathy is necessarily a homeless ascetic. His character must be of a higher type. Such conditions are not set down in the case of clairvoyance. The faculty of telepathy is far more superior to that of clairvoyance. The Jaina thinkers recognize two varieties of telepathy: rjumati and vipulamati. The latter is purer and everlasting, i.e. lasts up to the dawn of omniscience, whereas the former is less pure and sometimes trembles, too.65 The latter perceives less number of objects than the former but cognises them more vividly. It is only who is at the upward stage of spiritual advancement, is possessed of the latter, whereas the former is possessed by one who is sure to descend the spiritual ladder. The latter is more lucid than the former.66 One possessed of telepathy perceives only a part of the objects of clairvoyance directly, since the mind is a portion of the whole material world. But he knows a greater number of states of the material objects that constitute the contents of the thinking process indirectly. With respect to this position, the Jaina thinkers are not unanimous. Umasvati holds that one possessed of telepathy cognises only an infinitesimal part of the objects of clairvoyance. He knows a greater number of states of the material objects that form the contents of the invisible thinking process of the mind."7 Now, this position seems to be slightly paradoxical. The implication of this statement is that the states of the material objects thought by the minds