Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 23

as he has done before. But this time he attempts to reconcile the Jain and non-Jain conceptions of reality by adopting the theory of anekānta or manifold aspects and asserts that from the standpoint of adhisthäna there is only one universal soul, while from the standpoint of individuality there are many souls in the universe. However, he explains the Vedantic concept of adhisthāna in terms of the Jain concept of sattāsāmānya or universal existence constituted by origination, continuation and destruction.
Even then, Śrimad is not able to identify the Jain concept of sattāsāmānya with the Vendantic concept of all-pervading conscious sub-stratum of the universe. He simply expresses his doubts regarding the traditional Jain view of the nature of ultimate reality. Without challenging this dogma, he stops here by simply conjecturing that the omniscient Jain Tirthankaras must have known and accepted the adhisthāna of the universe, although later Jain traditions, regretfully, did preserve this fact. Thus, although Śrīmad personally believed in the Vendantic concept of adhisthana, he was not able to reconcile it with the traditional Jain position and was again caught in a dilemma.
UPADEŚA MĀRGA AND SIDDHĀNTA MĀRGA
Śrīmad's distinction between upadeśa bodha and siddhanta bodha is one more example of the influence of non-Jain philosophical literature on him. In his view, upadeśa bodha, that is the acquisition of scriptural knowledge through religious instruction, is preparatory to the acquisition of siddhanta bodha, or spiritual understanding. Through discriminative knowledge (viveka), detachment (vairāgya), suppression of the passions (upaśama) etc., the upadeśa bodha generates the basic purity of the self on the basis of which an aspirant can understand or experience the fundamental doctrines or siddhantas regarding the ultimate reality. A person which tries to change this sequence and attempts to ascertain the nature of the siddhantas without preliminary purification through the instruction received from a master, will not gain a true understanding of the real nature of the self. According to Śrīmad Rajacandra, the doctrine propounded by a vitarāga
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