Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi

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there are an infinite number of śrutas, corresponding to the number of letters and their combinations. According to Avasyakaniryukti it is not possible to specify the number of śrutas since they are as many as the number of letters and their various combinations. Fourteen salient characteristics are however enumerated in the work. These are aksara (alphabet), samjñin (cognitive), samyak (right), sädika (having beginning), saparyavasita (having end), gamika (containing repetitions) and angapraviṣṭa (included in the original scripture) with their opposites, viz., anakṣara, asaṁjñin, etc. A detailed treatment of these, however, is not found in the work. It is in the Nandi-Sutra that we have a clear and detailed indication of the fourteen characteristics of śruta. Of these only four along with their opposites are philosophically significant and hence we shall refer to them alone here.
Akşaraśruta is divided into three, corresponding to the shape of the letter (samjñākṣara), sound of the letter (vyañjanākṣara) and śruta-jnāna proper derivable through the five sense organs and the mind (labdhyakṣaras). The first two, it is obvious, deal with material symbols, used in writing the script and in using the spoken word respectively. Hence they are called dravya-śruta. The third one is referred to as bhavaśruta.
Samjñi-śruta is analysed into three types corresponding to the three types of cognitival activity: (1) discursive thinking that takes into account the past, the present and the future; (2) consciousness of the present resulting in the capacity for discriminating between the right and wrong types of activity for the preservation and destruction of life respectively; and (3) consciousness due to knowledge of the right scriptures.8
Samyak-śruta refers to the Jaina source-books like Acārānga, Sūtrakṛtānga, etc. whereas the non-Jaina source-books like the Vedas and the Epics are the mithyā-śrutas.
Asamjñi-śruta is also divided into three, corresponding to the type of mind involved, viz., the under-developed mind, the totally
4 17, 18
5 19
6 Nandi-Sutra, 38
"Ibid., 39 8 Ibid
JAINISM