________________
III. X]
CRITICISM OF THE SAMKHYA-YOGA AVIDYA
'For
relation of puruşa and prakṛti may appear as high and lofty philosophy to those who are fond of metaphysical speculations, but they have little fascination for the Jaina philosopher who is a staunch realist and has a deep conviction about the reality of his own experience. The Jaina philosopher believes in concrete relation between the soul and the body. And Haribhadra is even reluctant to believe that the great sage Kapila could have propounded that bondage and emancipation belong to prakṛti and not to the purușa. Haribhadra says: 'The ancient sages have declared emancipation of the purusa in the Tantra."1 Then stating that the Jaina conception of purușa and his relation with karma-prakyti (karmic matter) is not liable to censure, he says: this reason the (Sankhya) doctrine of prakṛti also should be accepted as true, and also because it has been propounded by Kapila who was a great sage of godly character."2 Haribhadra means to assert that the original doctrine of Kapila was not different from that of the Jainas. The Sankhya-Yoga conception of the condition of emancipation has been reinterpreted by Vidyānandi. Asamprajñāta-samādhi (state of concentration in which self is intuited as it is, free from conceptual constructions) is the ultimate condition of emancipation. The purusa exists in its own state in this samadhi. "This samadhi', says Vidyanandi, 'which consists in the existence of the puruşa in its own state and is the condition of the final emancipation is nothing else than the threefold jewels-samyag-jñāna (right knowledge) being the nature of the purușa, tattvarthaśraddhāna (predilection or love for the truth) being the necessary concomitant of it, and the absolute indifference (of the purusa) being the parama-caritra (consummate conduct).' And consequently the nature of Sankhya avidya is also to be interpreted as identical with mithya-darśana (perverted attitude), mithya-jñāna (perverted knowledge) and mithya-caritra (perverted conduct).
These are in brief the logical difficulties and implications of the Sankhya-Yoga system. Let us now estimate the value of the NyayaVaiseṣika conception of avidya.
1
puruṣasyo 'dita muktir iti Tantre cirantanaiḥ.-SVS, 231..
2evam prakṛtivado 'pi vijñeyaḥ satya eva hi
Kapiloktatvataś cai 'va divyo hi sa mahamuniḥ.-SVS, 237.
3 yad api draṣṭur atmanaḥ svarupe 'vasthanam dhyanam paramamuktinibandhanam tad api na ratnatrayatmakatam vyabhicarati samyag-jñānasya puṁrüpatvāt, tasya tattvärtha-śraddhanasahacaritatvāt, paramaudāsīnyasya ca parama-caritratvat-TSIV, p. 18.
JP-21
161
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
