Reality English Translation of Sarvarthasiddhi

Author(s): S A Jain
Publisher: Jwalamalini Trust Chennai

Page 59

CLAIRVOYANCE BY BIRTH
31
Thus verbal testimony is of two, several and twelve kinds. What is the basis of the distinction?
The distinction is based on the kinds of teachers. The teachers are of three kinds, namely the Omniscient Tirthamkara, his disciples (śruta kevalis) and the later preceptors (Acāryas). The scriptures were really taught by the Omniscient Tirtharıkara, gifted with perfect knowledge of unimagi. nable power and splendour. The Lord is free from all kinds of impurities and is possessed of direct and perfect knowledge. Hence His word is authoritative. The Lord's chief disciples called Ganadharas gifted with vast knowledge recollect the import of the Lord's teachings and compose works called angas and pūrvas. These are also authoritative, as these are only interpretations of the word of the Lord. Later on shorter works such as Daśavai kālika are written by the later preceptors to benefit their disciples, whose lives are shorter and whose intellect and energy are less potent owing to the nature of the times. These also constitute valid knowledge, as these are in fact the same as the angas and pūrvas in a condensed form, just as the water of the Milky Ocean taken in a jar.
Indirect knowledge has been expounded. Direct knowledge must be described now. Direct knowledge is the knowledge perceived directly by the soul in a vivid manner without the intermediary of the senses or the scriptures. This is of two kinds, direct knowledge of a part of reality and direct knowledge embracing the entire reality. Avadhi (clairvoyance) and manaḥparyaya (telepathy) belong to the first variety, and perfect knowledge is of the second variety of direct knowledge. The first of these three kinds of direct knowledge, namely avadhi, is described first. Avadhi is of two kinds according to the nature of its origin. The first is due to birth, and the second owes its origin to destruction-cum-subsidence of the particular karmic veil. - भवप्रत्ययोऽवधिदेवनारकाणाम
11 22 11 Bhavapratyayo avadhirdevanārakāņām (21) 21. Clairvoyance (avadhi) based on birth is possessed by celestial and infernal beings.