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Concept of Omniscience in Jainism
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of the end; therefore, it is of instrumental value. Any thing can be both means and end but cannot be a means to it. Therefore, it is not feasible to accept that omniscience is both conducive to and identical with self-realization. It seems that the Jainas started with the conception of omniscience as “the knowledge of the means of spiritual realization" and then passed on to omniscience as "self-realization”. There is also another sense in which the term 'omniscience ‘is used. In this sense, it means the knowledge of the essential principles and not knowledge of concrete details. Ācārārga" says, “je egam jāņai se savvam jāņai i.e. “He, who knows one, knows all. This passage when read in actual context refers to the knowledge of passions, which obscure right knowledge. The one” referred to here, therefore, means knowledge of some essential moral principle. Pt. Sukhlalji interprets this as “Right knowledge could be had only if things are known from the points of view of both substance and modes. In other words, Sukhlalji reads into this utterance the view that only he is omniscient who adopts both these points of view. This statement however, has to be distinguished from an analogous statement emphasizing the knowledge of all substances and modes.
In Jaina philosophy, the meaning of omniscience as the knowledge of essential principle is substantially the same as the knowledge of self because the self is regarded as the most essential principle. Therefore, he who knows the soul knows everything. Some important Jaina thinkers like Kundakunda, Pūjyapāda, Yogindu and others hold that the knowledge of the soul underlines the knowledge of everything. Sthānānga-sutra suggests that Ege āyā ege loye i.e. one soul and one universe is very significant. In Niyamasāra, Ācārya Kundakunda says “ It is from the practical point of view only that the Omniscient Lord perceives and knows all; from the real point of view, the Omniscient perceives and knows his soul only. A few Jaina thinkers hold that omniscience means knowledge of every thing in full details. Therefore, these are the two important senses, namely, omniscience as knowledge of essentials and omniscience as universal knowledge, which ultimately represents as two opposite views on the subject. Some thinkers subscribe to the view that omniscience is
