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INTRODUCTION
mokșa the qualities are purged out from it. It is not subject to the functions of knowledge and its accessories. Only at the mundane level it has a relationship with mind; hence it has the function of knowing.
Buddhists propound the beginningless stream of consciousness (citta) which takes the form of alayavijñāna and pravrttivijñāna. There is no permanent substance serving as the matrix of this process; when the consciousness is void of influx of avidyā and trsnā, it becomes pure. This is the philosophical contention which is subsequent to the doctrines of Gautama Buddha. Buddha himself maintained that nothing can be predicated (avyāksta) about citta at the time of nirvana. Consequently, the concept of Nirvāna was explained by the example of a extinguishing lamp, with the result that most of the critics of Buddhist philosophy subscribe to the view that sitta becomes non-entity at the time of Nirvāna. But the authors like Dharmakirti and others are clear in their mind that there is a continuous stream of citta, pure and simple, which is quite different from matter. • Jainism endorses the view of three modes of the substance, utpāda (origination), vyaya (destruction) and dhrauvya (subsistence); every object whether it is material or not, is amenable to these three conditions ; it undergoes changes maintaining at the same time the permanent nature ; the intrinsic nature itself does not change to the extent of self-destruction nor does it remain ever stationary or kutasthanitya as in Upani sads. The atman that undergoes such changes is of the nature of consciousness (upayoga); this consciousness, when it comprehends the external reality is jñāna and is darşana when it intuits the self. Jnāna is one of the modifications of the soul by virtue of which the object is known. It is quality (guna) also, since it modifies into various ways. In fact knowledge is innate and inherent in the soul; verily, ātman is knowledge and knowledge is ātman; ātman is of the nature of anantacatustaya and jñāna is one of them. From the standpoint of pure consciousness knowledge (jñāna) is a modification, but is guna also since it has its own modifications.
(ii) Only Jñāna is Pramāna :
By the statement-'pramiyate yena tatpramānam' it should be understood that Pramāna is the essential means of right knowledge (pramā). There is a controversy on the point of the means of pramā. Nyāya system holds both sannikarşa (intercourse) and jñāna as means of pramā ;for Vaiseșika,
1 Nyāyamañjari, p. 77. 2 Nyāya-bhāșya, I. 1. 3.
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