Product Code Database
Kevala jnana (, ) or Kevala gyana, also known as Kaivalya, means omniscience in Jainism and is roughly translated as complete understanding or supreme wisdom.
Kevala jnana is believed to be an intrinsic quality of all souls. This quality is masked by karmic particles that surround the soul. Every soul has the potential to obtain omniscience by shedding off these karmic particles. Jain scriptures speak of twelve stages through which the soul achieves this goal. A soul who has attained kevala jnana is called a kevalin (केवलिन्). According to the Jains, only kevalins can comprehend objects in all aspects and manifestations; others are only capable of partial knowledge.
The views of two sects of Jainism, Digambara and Śvētāmbara Jains differ on the subject of kevalins. According to Digambaras, a kevalin does not experience hunger or thirst, whereas according to Svetambaras, a kevalin has normal human needs and he travels and preaches too. Digambara Jains believe that they do not act in the normal sense of the word, that they sit motionless in Lotus position, and that their bodies emit Divyadhvani, a sacred sound which is interpreted by their followers as the fundamental truth. According to both traditions, the last kevalin was a disciple of one of the eleven chief disciples of the last tirthankara, Mahāvīra; his name is recorded as Jambuswami. It is also known that no one after Jambuswami will have the ability to obtain kevala jnana for next tens of thousands of years.
Immediately after the death of Mahavira, his disciple Indrabhuti Gautama became a kevalin. As per the tradition, the teachings of the tirthankara were memorised and preserved over many centuries.
In the second Upanga Agama, the Rājapraśnīya, there is a dialogue between Kesi, a disciple of Pārśva, and Payasi, a materialist king. In this dialogue, Kesi proves the existence of jiva and its ability to obtain kevala jñana to the king.
The Jains have a long debate with Hinduism and regarding omniscience. Bhikkhu Dharmakirti criticised the Jain notion of omniscience in his Pramanavartika. The Hindu philosopher Kumarila argued that only Veda had the authority to define human moral values since they were "beginningless, authorless and of self-sufficient validity". In response, the Jain monasticism Haribhadra () wrote that humans already had knowledge of everything knowable. It only had to be illuminated or uncovered. Omniscience was, according to Haribhadra, inherent to living beings.
Samantabhadra was the first philosopher-monk in the history of Indian philosophy who tried to use inference as a method to establish the existence of omniscience. In his famous work, Aptamimamsa, Samantabhadra asserts:
Akalanka (–760 CE) put forward the concept of suniscita-asambhavad-badhaka-pramana as a reason for the existence of omniscience. This concept is a well-known fact which is "we have no valid methods of knowing to deny the existence of omniscience." Hemacandra () combined Samantabhadra and Akalanka's ideas of sarvajña in his Pramanamimasa to establish the existence of omniscience.
Jains contrast all attempts to proclaim absolute truth with Anekantavada, which can be explained through the parable of the "blind men and an elephant". In this story, each blind man felt a different part of an elephant (trunk, leg, ear, etc.). All the men claimed to understand and explain the true appearance of the elephant, but could only partly succeed, due to their limited perspectives. This principle is more formally stated by observing that objects are infinite in their qualities and modes of existence, so they cannot be completely grasped in all aspects and manifestations by finite human perception. According to the Jains, only the Kevalis—omniscient beings—can comprehend objects in all aspects and manifestations; others are only capable of partial knowledge. Consequently, no single, specific, human view can claim to represent absolute truth.
| The stage of wrong believer |
| The stage of one who has a slight taste of right belief |
| The stage of mixed belief |
| The stage of one who has true belief but has not yet self-discipline |
| The stage of partial self-control |
| The stage of complete self-discipline, although sometimes brought into wavering through negligence |
| The stage of self-control without negligence |
| The stage of one in whom the passions are still occurring in a gross form |
| The stage of one who practices anivratti karana; however, the passions are still occurring |
| The stage of one in whom the passions occur in a subtle form |
| The stage of one who has suppressed every passion but still does not possess omniscience |
| The stage of who has annihilated every passion but does not yet possess omniscience |
| The stage of omniscience with activity |
| The stage of omniscience without any activity |
|
|
