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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
and absolutely devoid of a motive and personal considerations. Buddha, who was a junior comtemporary of the Holy Tirthamkara, and who, according to Sanderson, was at one time a disciple of the great Mahavira, referred twice to the Jaina claim that the Tirthamkara was sarvagya and sarva darşi (a knower and perceiver of all things). These references are to be found in the Majjhima Nikaya of the Buddhist Scriptures. And some centuries later, we find the celebrated Buddhist Logician, Dharmakirti, referring to the example (driştânta) of two of the Jaina Tirtham karas, the first and the last, as endowed with Omniscience, in one of the illustrations, in his famous work, the Nyayabindu. In the scriptures of Hinduism, too, Rişabha Deva, the first Tirthamkara, is acknowledged to have attained omniscience. : The Jainas maintain that all souls are naturally endowed with the attribute of omniscience, so that the Tirthamkaras were no exception to the rule. But we shall have to refer to this matter a little later on again. The reason why obeisance is offered to the "Tirthamkara is not because He will be pleased with such homage and grant us something, but because He is the ideal for the devotee's soul, who himself wishes to become like the Tirthamkara, in all respects. This he hopes to attain by following in the footsteps of the Master.
The Jainas accept no teaching that is not scientific. They hold that wherever there is a fact it must be of a clear and definite and certain nature. It is not in the nature of a fact to be vague and indefinite. And since definiteness and certainty appertain to science, the Jainas maintain that all facts are capable of intellectual demonstration, and of being established by scientific investigation. As for the practical side of religion, the Jainas urge that nothing that is unscientific or vague can ever be relied upon for producing immediate, certain and unvarying results. The Jaina term for science is vastu-svarupa (nature of things); what does not conform to vastusvarupa is naturally not scientific. The Jaina Doctrine is known, consequently, as SIDDHÂNTA (Established TRUTH). : A SIDDHÂNTA like the Jaina Doctrine, must necessarily proceed by the formulation of a method of investigation which will faultlessly lead an enquirer to Truth, speedily. Such is the Jaina Logic and
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