Nyayamanjari Part 03

Author(s): Jayant Bhatt, Chakradhar, Gaurinath Shastri
Publisher: Sampurnand Sanskrit Vishva Vidyalay

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Ordinarily any one of the special qualities of the self such as pleasure, pain, etc., is subject to destruction in the event of any other such quality following upon it. As such, these qualities cannot claim any permanence. Now, if pain by nature is not a permanent entity and one such is amenable to destruction with the appearance of any other, one may enquire, and rightly so, what Gotama has in his mind when he speaks of atyantikatva in connection with its destruction. The answer is that Gotama's intention is that the destruction of pain will be such (i. e., atyantika) when once destroyed it will cease to recur at any time in future. The number of pain is counted as twenty-one, relating to the body, the six senses, the six objects of the six senses, the six cognitions brought about by the six senses, pleasure and
pain.
Jayanta Bhasta does not agree with the Vedāntins, who assert that atman is eternal knowledge and bliss. For, if this view of the Vedāntins be accepted, it needs to be explained why that bliss is not experienced in the state of samsāra. Further, he enquires of them, why they hesitate to accept eternal body and eternal senses in the state of apavargą so that they can function in the way of affording bliss to the liberated soul. He thinks that in the absence of a body and the senses, there is hardly any possibility of eternal bliss in apavarga. However, if bliss be accepted as the nature of atman, it is not understood why a spiritual aspirant should strive for its attainment. If it be urged that the association of a body and the senses does not necessarily create a situation for the enjoyment of the bliss which atman is, it may be pointed out that senses etc. were created by God only to enable the individual selves to enjoy bliss and not to prevent them from enjoying it. Further, Jayanta does not agree with the teachers of Monistic Vedānta when they describe avidya as a veil that shuts out the manifestation