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IL
Omniscient Beings means & state (Saraṇan', 'Parayanan' or 'Akkharan') Which is everlasting ( Anantan,' 'Açyutan,' 'Asamkbatan,' or 'Anuttaran') and which has been described in the sacred books of the Buddhists as blessed and true (Khīman,' 'Sivan,' Saççan,' Kõvalan,' 'Padan') then a being in Nirvana may not be devoid of existence; but with regard to a being in such a state also, the question of Omniscience does not arise. For, according to the Buddhists, 'Tanha' is at the root of all knowledge; owing to Tanbã and the · Vasana,' momentary apprehensions regarding momentary objects arise every moment. This series of momentary apprebensions (Santana ) stops absolutely when
Nirvāṇa' is attained at the annihilation of Vásana,'- 80 that it is not possible for a Jiva who has attained the Nirvana to have Omni. science or knowledge of all or any of the objects of the world.
II. The Liberated State And Omniscience :
The Nyaya And The Vaišėsika Views. Just as Omniscience is impossible in a being who has entered the state, called the Nirvana' by the Buddhist, it is impossible in a similar way in a soul which has attained absolute liberation, called * Apavarga' by the Naiyāyikás. According to Gautama, desire, aversion, effort, pleasure, pain and knowledge are the attributes or peculiar characteristics of a soul; some add three other attributes to this list. In any case, the theory of the Nyaya philosophy is that when 'Apavarga' or final emancipation 18 attained, all those attributes or characteristics of the soul leave it absolutely.
"Tadīvam dhişanādinām navanamapi mūlataḥ Guņamātmano dha saḥ söhpavargaḥ pratisthitaḥ
In a Jiva which has attained ' Apavarga,' Jňána or consciousness is absurd just like its other attributes,--so that when one thinks that the state of liberation, as conceived by Gautama, is not unlike the absolutely passive and unconscious state of a stone,-- -- Muktayē Yah Silatvaya Sastramūcē Sacitasam "--
17/75, Naişadhiya-caritam. He is not probably wrong. According to the Vaisēșikás also, the soul is in the state of
