Outlines of Jainism

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

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known to be associated with the old one can be understood properly.
JAINISM
Upayoga is the stage where there is a proper understanding of the new phenomenon, thanks to the process of integration and consideration which have gone into the attempt at comprehending it in the light of an already familiar phenomenon.
A very interesting parallel is drawn between the fourth stage (naya) in the śruta-jñāna and the fourth stage (dhāraṇa) in the mati-jñāna. Dharaṇa, consisting as it does the mental retention of a precept, is practically the extreme limit of the sensuous matijñāna. In the same manner, naya which consists in the explanation of a phenomenon by emphasizing its particular aspect, is the farthest limit of śruta-jñāna. This is because the significance of naya consists not so much in referring to the accumulated mass of knowledge (in explaining a phenomenon) as in explaining a thing by looking to its various modes and specific aspect directly.1
12
The distinctive feature of the Jaina theory of śruta is that it is always considered to be preceded by mati.13 None of the schools of Indian philosophy which refer to knowledge derived through verbal testimony, maintains that perceptual knowledge is basic to scriptural or verbal knowledge.
The peculiar theory of the Jainas is attributable to the fact that early in their tradition śruta was considered as knowledge born through the sense organ of hearing. Gradually it was extended to cover knowledge acquired by all the other sense organs also. The Jaina view is that since knowledge in general, if at all it is to be useful, has to be communicated, and since communication is through language and since verbal expressions are directly perceived by the ears, śruta is always preceded by mati. Though verbal expressions alone are directly perceived by the ears non-verbal expressions (thoughts) are potential objects of auditory perception. Also whatever might be the type of perception experienced - visual, gustatory, tactual or olfactory - they have all to go into the thought-processes of man and eventually are convertible into linguistic expressions, sound symbols which impinge on the auditory organs of the hearer and 'reach' him. Since the employment of words in thought
12 Ibid., pp. 302-303
13 Tattvärtha-Sutra, I. 20