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FOREWORD
by Mahamahopadhyaya Dr Gopinath Kaviraj
The following pages embody the results of a wide and systematic study in the field of Jaina philosophy, and deal with certain basic problems of the system. These problems which relate to Jñāna, Ajñāna, Karman, and Yoga have a universal bearing and though an attempt has been made to examine each of them and to determine its value from a particular point of view it is bound to be of special interest to every earnest student of Indian philosophy. As the writer has undertaken to interpret the Jaina viewpoint, it is but natural that he should have approached his subject from this standpoint.
The work begins with a brief enunciation of the general philosophical attitude of Brahmanism, as revealed in the earlier Upanisads, described as chiefly monistic, and is followed by a comparison with the Buddhist approach which is rationalistic and the Jaina attitude which is non-absolutistic.
With this preliminary statement as a preamble the work proceeds to discuss at length each of the four problems mentioned above on the basis of ancient Jaina traditions recorded in works considered as possessed of undisputed authority. There is ample evidence to show not merely that the author's studies have been wide and varied, but also--and this is very important that his interpretation is faithful and illuminating. To this rare combination he has added another commendable quality, viz. lucidity of presentation.
His criticisms of some of the doctrines of the rival schools may not be acceptable to the exponents of those schools. But they have a distinct value of their own. It is an established convention that the exponent of a particular line of thought considers it a part of his duty not only to interpret it in its own light and judge it on its own merits but also to bring it into comparison or contrast with other lines of similar thought. In such cases the defence of one line leads usually to the condemnation of the rest. But such condemnation is not necessarily a condemnation if the ultimate postulates of those lines are taken into consideration.
The Jaina theory of knowledge has been dealt with in the chapter on Jaina epistemology. It is based on the Agamas and had, like the doctrine of Karman, probably its origin in the wisdom of the ancient seers. The fivefold division of knowledge is very old. Knowledge is an essential attribute of the soul, but its rightness or wrongness
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