New Dimensions in Jaina Logic

Author(s): Mahaprajna Acharya, Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Today and Tommorrow Printers and Publishers

Page 17

Jaina Logic of Agama Period
9
The instrument of knowing is knowledge. The soul is the knower. It knows the object through knowledge. Knowledge is the attribute of the soul. The relation between the soul and the knowledge is like the one between substance (guni) and quality (guna). The quality is neither absolutely different from, nor absolutely dentical with the substance. The soul is the substance while knowledge is the quality. It is from this standpoint that the knowledge is somehow different from the soul. Knowledge certainly belongs to the soul. It is from this standpoint that the former is somehow identical with the latter.
The knowledge is of five kinds1. Mati—Sensual and intellectual. 2. Sruta-Scriptural. 3. Avadhi-Clairvoyance. 4. Manahparyava--Mind reading. 5. Kevala-Omniscience.
Of the above five, the two viz. mati and śruta are sensual and the rest are super-sensual. Of them again the four are for oneself, while the scriptural knowledge is both for oneself and for others. Knowledge is essentially self-cognising. It is the language that communicates knowledge to others. The scriptural knowledge is also, in itself, non-communicative, although it is couched in words. On account of this relationship with language the scriptural knowledge is metaphorically regarded as communicative." In the above classification of knowledge the divisions of perceptual and nonperceptual are not the main types.20 There is, however, another way of classification of knowledge where sensual knowledge is regarded as non-perceptual (mediate) and super-sensual knowledge is regarded as perceptual (immediate).21 In this classification the first two types of the above mentioned list fall under the former, and the last three under the latter category.
Acārya Kundakunda holds that the senses are not intrinsically related to the soul. They are external substances. What is external cannot be the nature of the soul. How can the knowledge attained through what is not the nature of the soul be considered a perception belonging to the soul? The knowledge acquired through an instrument which is other than the soul is, therefore, to be treated as mediate (paroksa).22 Only that knowledge which originates from the soul and which is not dependent on the senseorgans. the mind and the intellect is direct (pratyakşa).23 The knowledge which can cognise formless substances and also the super.