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The Right Perspective of Anekânta
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anekāntika. The second meaning is that the substance has many innumerable or infinite modifications, therefore it has infinite attributes. Modifications have two varieties : the intrinsic modifications (arthaparyāya) and the visible modifications (vyañjana paryāya). The intrinsic modifications are subtle, they change with the minutest unit of time (samaya, the smallest unit of time, which is further indivisible). This change has twelve stages. The subtle modifications cannot be known through the senses. They are the object of super-sensuous consciousness. The visible modifications are apparent. They are manifest and, therefore, can be known through the senses also. It is in the case of these apparent modifications that we can think of both, the possible and the probable. Every modification has the possibility of changing into any other mode. A colour can change into another colour, a smell into another smell, a taste into another taste, and a touch into another touch. Yati Bhoja has described two types of potentialities – the potentiality which can be actualized at a distant time (oghaśakti) and potentially which can be immediately actualized (samucitāśakti); the former is the mediate cause, while the latter is the immediate cause of change. Grass has the potentiality of becoming ghee at a distant future. Curd can change into ghee immediately. The potentialities are too many
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