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Five Means Of Knowledge According To Jainism
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by Jayaram VAccording to Jainism there are five ways in which
the jivas obtainknowledge of the things and the world in which they
live. Of themthe first three are imperfect means of knowledge and
prone toerror, while the last two are perfect means of knowledge
and conveythe truth without error. These five means or instruments
ofknowledge are explained below:1. Mati: Mati is mind/ Mati jnana
is the knowledge of the mind,gained usually through your senses,
your memory, your remembrance,your cognition, and your deductive
reasoning. It is something which
you know with the help of your mind and its various faculties.
Froma soul's perspective, this is indirect knowledge because it
derivedthrough the external agent of mind and its faculties.
2. Sruthi: When you learn something from other sources, other
peopleor beings, through your observation of signs, symbols or
words, wecall it sruthignana or the knowledge of sruthi or hearing.
This type
of knowledge is gained through association, attention,
understanding
and naya or varied interpretations of the meaning of things.
This is
also indirect knowledge because of the external agents involved
inobtaining knowledge.Avadhi: You gain this type of knowledge not
through any physicalmeans such as the senses or the mind, but
through your psychic
abilities, or through your intuitive awareness, by overcoming
thelimitations of time and space. It is beyond the boundaries of
yourordinary awareness and faculties and is not generally available
toevery one. This is direct knowledge.Mahaparyaya: This knowledge
is gained through the reading of others'
minds and thoughts. It is the knowledge of others that you
gainthrough some extraordinary process like telepathy or mind
reading.Kevala: It is the highest knowledge that you gain when you
transcend
your ordinary self and become a Jina or Kevalin. It is
knowledgeitself that does not require any outward means for its
awareness. It
is always there, unattached, unlimited, and without any
constraint,in the consciousness of the enlightened Jina. It cannot
be described
to others satisfaction, but can be experienced when the soul
becomes
liberated from earthly bondage.As we can see, the first two are
indirect means of knowledge sincewe have to depend upon some
external source such as the senses orthe mind to know things, while
the other three are direct, where you
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do not have to depend upon some external source to know
aboutthings.The essential nature of jiva is consciousness or
chaitanya, whichhas both perception (darsana) and intelligence
(jnana). The formeris more general (samanya) and superficial and
the latter morespecific and detailed (visesa) in providing the
souls withknowledge. According to Jain beliefs, a jiva does not
have to depend
upon senses only for perception. Even in a liberated state a
jivahas the ability of perception, which it does intuitively
withoutsense organs. There are also several stages in perception.
Knowledge
is both perfect and imperfect. Liberated souls possess
perfectknowledge, which is free from doubt (samsaya), delusion
(vimoha) and
wrong perception (vibhrama). Knowledge is also both
standard(pramana) and relative (naya). The former is based on a
fact and the
latter upon a perspective or stand point.Suggested Further
Reading
Ignorance or avijja is definedJainism, the theory of stand
pointsJainism, the theory of syadavada or saptabhangiIgnorance from
the aspect of Right View
KnowledgeThe Philosophy of Nyaya and Vaisheshika of
HinduismKapila and the Samkhya yogaAdvaita Vedanta As It
ExistsBuddhi, Discriminating Intelligence
Wednesday , September 21, 2011
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