Jainthology

Author(s): Ganesh Lalwani
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 70

The Jaina Concept of Kevalajnana in the Light of Modern Researches in
Thanatology
Kevalajñāna
Arvind Sharma
Jainism may briefly be summarized as that religion which accepts the five extensibles (astikāyas), the six substances (dravyas), the seven principles (tattvas)3 and the nine categories (padarthas). But the goal towards which the religion tends as a whole is ultimately the achievement of kevalajñāna, "which refers to the nature of infinite knowledge which the soul attains as the result of complete liberation or mokṣa".
What is the nature of this kevalajñāna ? It seems that until now scholars have tried to answer this question either ontologically or
1 S. Gopalan, Outlines of Jainism (New York: Halsted Press, 1973), p. 122.
2 S. Chatterjee and D. Dutta, An Introduction to Indian Philosophy (University of Calcutta, 1968), pp. 90-91.
3 M. Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1932), p. 161.
4 Kalidas Bhattacharyya, ed., The Cultural Heritage of India, Vol. I (Calcutta : The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, 1958), p. 403.
5 Kalidas Bhattacharyya, ed., op cit., pp. 427-428.
6 M. Hiriyanna writes (op cit., pp. 158-159):
Perfect enlightenment being of the very nature of self, its condition of partial or indistinet knowledge marks a lapse from it. Accordingly the senses and the manas, though they are aids to knowing from one standpoint, are from another so many indications of the limitation to which the jiva is subject during its earthly pilgrimage. This leads to the recognition of differences in the extent of enlightenment that a self may possess as a result of the removal of less or more of the obstacles to it. But no self without jnana is conceivable, or jnana without a self-a point in the doctrine which well illustrates its distinction from Buddhism.....The culmination of enlightenment is reached when the obstacles are broken down in their entirety. Then the individual jiva while continuing as such, becomes omniscient and knows all objects vividly and precisely as they are. That is called kevala-jnana or absolute apprehension without media or doubt and is what Mahavira is believed to have attained at the end of the long period of his penance. It is immediate knowledge and is described as kevala ('pure') since it arises of itself without the help of any external aid like the senses, etc. It is 'soul-knowledge', if we may so term it-knowledge in its pristine form and is designated mukhya-pratyaksa or perception par excellence to contrast it with common perception (samvyavaharika-pratyaksa). There are other but lower varieties of this supernormal knowledge recognized in the school, but it is not necessary to describe them here.
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