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The Soul and Consciousness :: 123
by different percepients are accounted for by the differences in the perceptual capacities of the selves. Māņikyanandi observes, “The order in the process of knowledge is determined by the destruction subsidence of the obscuring karmas.”
Mati and Sruta Types of Knowledge
Our senses play an important part in the process of knowledge. They stand between the soul and the objects. The types of knowledge like the tactual, visual, olfactory, gustatory and auditory are mainly determined by the instrumentality of the senses. Devanandi states that the soul, being incapable of comprehending objects by itself, accepts the assistance of the senses. The knowledge which is so determined has been called the matijñāna or sensuous knowledge. Along with it there is another type of knowledge which does not directly require the object but makes use of the knowledge already attained. The Jaina names it as the śrutajñāna or the perceptual knowledge. The characteristics of this type of knowledge have been variously described. Umāsvāti says: “Matijñāna must proceed śrutajñāna."4 Sensuous knowledge is a precondition for perceptual knowledge. Again Nemicandra says: "Sruta or perceptual knowledge is the knowledge of another object (arthāntara) than one (known by the sensitive knowledge). Necessarily it is preceded by sensuous knowledge.” Thus perceptual knowledge is held to be not only distinct from sensuous
1. In Jaina philosophy the personality of a living being is the joint effect
of the forces generated by the self and the karmas. When some of the obstructing karmas are in a state of subsidence and some others are in an operative state, the soul is said to be in a state of
destruction-subsidence, kşayopasama) 2. Mānikyanandin: Pariksämukha sutra, 2.8 3. Devanandin: Sarvärthasiddhi, p. 61 4. Umāsvāti: Tattvärthasūtra, 1.20 5. Perception always involves the use of the apperception masses of
the perceiver, though such a use appears only when one has experienced sensation. Sensation and perception are mutually
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