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SOME PROBLEMS IN JAINA PSYCHOLOGY
the karma. Next in fineness come the mano varganās. They occupy less space. The other groups of atoms form the subtle and the gross body. The modes of the mind are different states emerging into acts of thought. Every state of our mind is a particular mode of mind. As our states of thought change, the mind also changes. Every mode of thought is reflected in the mind substance. Direct experience of such modes of mind substance working in other individual minds is called manaḥparyāya. Avasyakaniryukti gives a brief description of the nature of manaḥparyāya knowledge. Manḥparyaya cognizes objects thought of by the minds of other people.37 In the Viseṣāvaśyakabhāṣya, we get a description of the manaḥparyaya jñāna. A person possessing manaḥparyaya directly cognizes the mental states of others without the instrumentality of the sense organs and the mind.38 We have seen that Bhutabali admits the instrumentality of manas in this experience, but his view is not generally accepted.
In Western thought, such a form of cognition was called 'thought transference." But, as Tyrrell says, since the name gives a wrong suggestion that something was being transferred through the space, it is not adequate. Myers coined the phrase 'telepathy' for describing such experiences. Tyrrell gives many instances of telepathic cognition. He also mentions instances of collective telepathy which he calls collective telepathic calculations.39 In Apparitions, published by the Society for Psychical Research, many interesting examples of telepathic cognition are recorded. It is not possible to go through the many instances of telepathy which Western scientists have recognized.
Coming back to the Jaina view, we find that manaḥparyaya, telepathic experience, is not easy to get and is not common. A certain physical and mental discipline is a condition for getting their power of intuition. In the Avasykaniryukti we read that manaḥparyāya is possible only for human beings of character, especially for homeless ascetics. Human beings acquire this capacity through merit and by the practice of mental and moral discipline.40 In the Nandisutra there is a detailed description of the conditions of the possibility of manaḥparyaya in the case of human beings.41 Manaḥparyaya is possible only in this karmabhūmi, this world of activity, this empirical world. Even the gods are not competent to possess manaḥparyāya. Only gifted human beings with a definite span of life can acquire this faculty. Some conditions have to be fulfilled and some discipline has to be undergone by human beings for acquiring manaḥparyaya. The conditions for the possession of
37 Avasyakaniryukti, 76.
38 Visesavasyakabhāṣya, 669, 814.
39 Tyrrel (G. N. M.): The Personality of Man, p. 65, (Pelican). 40 Avasyakaniryukti, 76.
41 Nandisutra, 39-44.
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