Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 615

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STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SÓTRA
Ch. X
Knowledge is further classified into two categories, viz. pratyaksa (immediate knowledge) and paroksa (mediate knowledge). The former is further subdivided into two kinds, viz. indriya-pratyaksa (immediate knowledge acquired through sense-organs) and noindriya-pratyaksa (that attained through mind). Indriyapratyaksa-jñāna is of five kinds, viz. śrotrendriya-pratyaksa, caksurīndriya-pratyaksa, ghränendriya-pratyaksa, jihvendriya-pratyakesa, and sparģendriya-pratyaksa, (immediate knowledge acquired through the sense-organs-ear, eye, nose, tongue and skin). Noindriya pratyaksa Grāna) is of three kinds, viz. avadhi-jñānapratyaksa (clair voyance) manah-paryāya-jñāna pratyaksa (telepathy) and kevala-jftāna-pratyaksa (omniscience)?
Relation between Jñāna and Darśana (knowledge and
self-awareness) Relation between jatāna and darsana is explained thus. Darsana (self-awareness) is the stepping stone to jñāna (knowledge) and they are inter-related to each other as the two aspects of consciousness, the attributes, of soul. They do not take place simultaneously, because säkāropayoga (determinate consciousness) is jāna (knowledge), while anākaropayoga (indeterminate consciousness) is darśana (self-awareness). It is clearly explained that even a paramāvadhika and a kevalin do not know and perceive an atom or a skandha at a time.
FOURTH SECTION
Ethics Ethics is the continuation of the metaphysical and psychological aspects of studies. Metaphysics deals with life and Nature and Psychology explains how the mind reacts to the objects of Nature, while Ethics is the moral consideration of all forces of life and Nature. It gives an insight how man started the estimation of the value of life from the first stage of civilization.
1 BKS, 8, 2, 318,
· Ib, 11, 8, 642.