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Omniscient Beings being or in a being who has entered the Nirvāṇa, it is possible in a person, in a certain stage of mental development. Neither sensuous knowledge nor inference can yield Omniscience; for, not only is the range of such forms of knowledge limited but they are after all vague and indistinct. Without a full and clear knowledge of objects the knower cannot be said to have attained Omniscience. This perfect and the clearest possible knowledge about all the things of the universe has been called the Sphutabba' knowledge by the Buddhist thinkers. According to them, the Sphutabha' is due to a direct perception which is 'Peculiar to sages' ('Yögi-Pratyaksa'). The ordinary knowledge about objects which we get through the Pramaņa's or empiric sources of knowledge is 'Bhūtartha' and to contemplate the 'Bhūtártha' again and again is. Bhūtartha-bhāvanā.' As a result of the 'Bhūtártha-bhávaná,' the knowledge of its object coines to be clearer and clearer. The 'Bhūtartha--bhavana' has various stages,-the
Bhūtártha-bhavana-Prakarsa,' but these not yield the full and the perfect knowledge about things,- until the last stage,- BhávanaPrakarsa--Paryanta, '-is reached. From the Bhāvana-PrakarşaParyanta' is evolved a direct apprehension about objects in the mind of the sage, which is called the Yögi-Pratyakşa '-'the perception of a sage.'
"Bhūtärtha-bhāvaná-Prakarsa-Par yan tajam Yogi-Jnanam çeti.”
-Nyaya-Vindu : 1 St. Paricchedah,
The three forms of perception Viz; sense-perception ('IndriyaJñána '), internal perception ('Mánasa-Pratyakşa'), and self-perception (Sva-samvēdana') cannot yield Omniscience; neither can inference (Anumana ') yield it. For, all these modes of cognition are imperfect and indistinct. The fourth mode of perception, according to the Buddhists, is the Yögi-Pratyaksa;' which we have just noticed. The YögiPratyaksa' yields Omniscience. It should be noticed, however, that even the perceptual stage, penultimate to the Yögi-Pratyaksa, '--the * Bhūtartha-bhavana-Prakarsa-Paryanta, '-does not give perfect and the clearest possible knowledge about objects. It is said that the know. ledge obtained at this is like the knowledge of a thing, seen through & thin, transparent substance.
