________________
110 ]
SANMATI-TARKA
[ III, 1-2
Everyday affairs are based on knowledge. The proof of the validity of knowledge is that our daily intercourse that is based on knowledge must be in itself valid. Real knowledge is the only means of determining the true nature of a thing. All the highest generaliza. tions as well as the middle generalizations such as Sat (reality), Dravya (substance) always assume the form of partieulars in one form or the other, when they come into the province of our daily life. Now this everyday dealing of ours cannot be said to be wrong. It must, therefore, be supposed that over and above the general, there is such a thing as particular. But all the same this general and particular are not mutually exclusive. They are one and the same thing. It is clear, therefore, that the general and the particular are interwoven in each other and the particular stands on the same level as the general. Everything, therefore, has two aspects one general and another particular and these two aspects are mutually indivisible. · If we suppose that there is nothing except the general and that there is no such thing as particular, we shall be forced in everyday dealing to give up all the particulars of a thing and to accept only its general aspect, for instance, all the transformations of gold such as bracelets or ear-rings that are real in our daily life and that are actually experienced by us shall have to be given up and every time we shall have to deal with gold as gold and nothing else- no varieties or transformations of it. If on the other hand we accept only the particulars of gold such as bracelets and ear-rings and eliminate the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
