On Meditations for Kevala

P. C. Das Gupta argues that Jainism holds significant importance for its speculative inquiry conditioned by syadvada, the system of probability, and its close analogy with Post-Vedic ideals. The article examines the human quest for supreme knowledge, or kevala, the ‘perfect knowledge’ attained by the principles of saptabhangi (‘seven forms’) and the understanding of the nature of pudgala aside the aspects jiva and ajiva. The author explains that the universe is traced to the everlasting, uncreated, independent categories of jiva and ajiva, the conscious and the unconscious, with animate beings composed of soul and body, and non-consciousness (ajiva) divided into those without form (arupa) such as dharma, adharma, space, and time, and those with form (rupa) such as pudgala or matter, with Jainas believing in the atomic structure of the universe. The article discusses the prolonged continuity of the tradition of Jaina thoughts, mentioning the unaccountable source of the distant cult of the earlier Buddhas, and that like Buddha Konakamana, Parsvanatha was also a historical figure whose realisation illuminated the self in the everlasting light of knowledge. The author notes that the organised system of Jainism envisaged the truth of kevala to be enshrined in self, which will not bring one to the Paradise beyond mortality but to the supreme realisation of things under the purest light of perception. The article also mentions the iconography of the colossus of Gomatesvara and the carvings on marble at Dilwara on Mount Abu, proclaiming the majesty of self and its perception beyond bondage. The sources discussed include A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, edited by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore, P. Thomas, Epics, Myths and Legends of India, and Umakant P. Shah, Studies in Jaina Art.

Summary reviewed by a volunteer editor.