Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
out the genesis of matter from a supposed source; but the moment we ask how it could come out of a place where it did not exist before, the whole edifice falls to the ground, leaving us with the infinity of particles, as constant reals. The nature of these particles is immaterial ; they may be pure vibrations, or vortices in some kind of forte, or anything else ; they certainly are not parts of an indivisible whole. We must, therefore, make up our minds to call matter as consisting of an infinite number of particles.
According to Jainism, matter, like other substances, is only a bundle of qualities. Qualities, or gunas, are those which inhere in substances, as materiality exists in all atoms and bodies of matter. It is not correct to say that qualities can exist by themselves. There are many qualities, but six are the more important. These are: (1) existence, (2enjoyability or utility, (3) substantiveness, (4) knowability, (5) specific or identityrhythm, i.e., the force which prevents one thing from becoming changed in essence, and (6) the quality of possessing some kind of form.
These are some of the general qualities ; besides them, there are special or individual qualities wbich exist only in special forms, combinations, or individuals, such as snow-whiteness, lilly-whiteness, and the like.
A little reflection will show that the six general qualities enumerated above exist not only in matter, but in all the six substances. In addition to the above, each of the six substances also possesses its special quality, e.g., space has the quality of finding room for and containing all things. The general qualities, therefore, are