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134 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
eradication of karmas on the ground of the absence of the causes of bondage and the presence of the cepacity for shedding them off.' Prabhācandra also comments on the subject as "There is a soul comprehending directly all the entities of the universe because its nature is to comprehend them and because along with this there is the destruction of obstructions. That which has the nature of comprehending something along with the possibility of the removal of obstructions, comprehends that directly, as the visual knowledge free from the obstructions of darkness, etc., comprehends colour (rūpa). There must be some soul which, along with the nature of comprehending all things, enjoys the removal of all obstructions.'? The author of the Pramāņamimāṁsā gives the same proof for the possibility of omniscience. Knowledge attains its final form as there is its gradual development.' C.R. Jain observes 'Consciousness being the very nature of the substance of soul, and all things being knowable by nature, omniscience, full and perfect, must be predicated in respect of the essential nature of each and every individual.'4 Vādideva Sūri observes: 'when consciousness has the power of comprehending all the objects, then, on the removal of the karmas why will it not see all the objects?'S
The above statements may be analysed as under. Firstly the soul is held to possess the capacity of comprehending the totality of the universe. This implies the comprehensibility on the parts of the objects, i.e., no entity is such as would refuse to enter into the knowledge-relation with the conscious self. Secondly, this capacity of the soul is obscured by the karmic forces and thus result the limitations of the conscious manifestations. Thirdly, there is the possibility of the removal of the obstructions.
1. Vidyānanda: Āptaparikṣā, p. 1 2. Prabhācandra: Nyāyakumuda-candrodaya, p. 91 3. Hemacandra: Pramāna-mimāṁsā, 1.1. 16. 4. C.R Jain: Key of Knowledge, p. 95 5. Vādideva: Nyāya-viniscayavivarana, III, verse, 24
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