Dr. N.L. Kachhara
On the elimination of psychical karma, the soul becomes omniscient and has infinite knowledge, jnana, infinite awareness and perception, darshana, infinite bliss and infinite soul power, virya. The passions, kashayas, and emotions, nokashayas, are absent and the conscious mind has ceased to exist. There is no thinking, no memory, no desire, no choices to make, and no likes and dislikes. The Omniscient only experiences and speaks truth spontaneously, without resorting to thinking, logic and memory. Nothing in the world, past, present or future, is unknown to an Ominiscient. He or she knows the smallest paramanu and all of the non-physical substances (dravyas), which are unknown to mundane souls. He or she is constantly aware of his or her existence; all worldly things, including his or her own body, have no attraction for him or her.
Some qualities of Omniscient-like knowledge were discussed in Chapter 9. A Tirthankara is omniscient but also has some additional qualities because of the rise of Tirthankara naama karma. A Tirthankara has no guru or teacher but is self-made; an omniscient (kevali) may have had the help of scriptures or of a guru or teacher. At any time, there are only 20-170 Tirthankaras in the loka (two-and half islands) but there are 2-9 crore omniscient souls. Tirthankara do not speak in words (in Samavasarana (religious congregation?), according to Digambara tradition), but an omniscient can do so. A Tirthankara has 34 superhuman qualities that are not found in an omniscient. Four of these qualities are by birth; eleven qualities are due to the rise of Tirthankara naama karma, and nineteen extraordinary features are produced by the celestial gods. The four extraordinary qualities by birth are: having a body with extraordinary form and smell, and without any ailment, and without sweat or excretion. Tirthankaras' breath smells like lotus flowers, their blood is white, and their nutrition is possible by invisible sources. The eleven superhuman qualities produced by the rise of Tirthankara naama karma include divyadhvani, radiating sound waves understood by all humans, celestial beings and animals; no disease; no rivalry; no harmful insects and pests; no epidemics or untimely death; no floods and droughts; no famine; and no fear, in an area of 1000 miles (125 yojana) radius. How do we explain these feats?
The Tirthankara experiences infinite psychical intelligence in the absence of psychical karma, and only biological intelligence manifests in the body. The working of the body system is changed in the absence of passions, emotions and the conscious mind (bhavamanah). The brain is no longer directed by the mind, but functions only as a processing unit for the body without conscious memories. The hormone secretions also change; only a limited type of hormones are secreted, reducing the variations in the states of the body to a minimum, as is compatible with the enlightened state of the soul. The chemistry of the body must also change; the body now remains energetic and healthy with minimal or no food intake. The energy requirement of the body is at a minimum and is fulfilled from the input received through the skin, breathing and prana. The immune system becomes highly powerful, changing the properties of the blood. The efficiency of cell functioning is also high and there is no waste. It is known by scientific experiments that DNA and cells can be modified by radiation and radio waves. It appears that in the omniscient state every cell becomes a transmitter and receiver of radio signals. A Tirthankara is able to produce signals in the cells by the rise of Tirthankara naama karma, which is transmitted by manovargana (the dravyamanah continues to exist in this state) into the surroundings in a wide range of frequency. The messages so transmitted are received by the minds of beings; they receive the message of the Tirthankara without the necessity of speech. Each kind of being, e.g. humans, animals and celestial beings, receive the message in a frequency range suitable to their system and understanding. By the reverse process, the Tirthankara knows the minds of the audience and replies to their questions and queries without anybody uttering a word. This way of communication is highly efficient and the Tirthankara, having infinite intelligence, can simultaneously communicate with all beings. Communication through waves is free from the problem of language diversity and even animals knowing no language can make sense of the message in their own way. As this communication is sent by the cells, the whole body becomes a medium of transmission that takes place in all directions. It is known that in the state of omniscience the whole body becomes karana, an organ of intelligent action and super-sensory perception, the normal sense organs losing their specific purposes. This is an extraordinary scientific feat observed in Tirthankara.
The other extraordinary qualities produced by the rise of Tirhankara naama karma are perhaps accomplished with the help of prana. Prana is a potent energy that can interact with living beings as well as matter and produce changes that are favourable, since the omniscient has destroyed all karmas that could produce unfavourable modes. Prana energy is radiated from the fiery body, stimulated by signals from the rising naama karma. The Tirthankara has no wish or will to affect any change, but it is the property of the prana energy that it becomes an auxiliary cause in producing favourable modes in living beings and other objects in nature. The main cause of these changes is the karmas in the living beings and the properties of the objects themselves.
A question is sometimes raised as to why a Tirthankara, having no desire or attachment, should organize Tirtha (sangha) and deliver sermons (through divyadhvani?)? The Tirthankara does not do so by any specific desire; the rise of Tirthankara naama karma manifests the biological intelligence that affects these activities of body and speech (through sound waves) in a natural way without affecting the tranquility and calmness of his soul. These activities attract an influx of karma varganas but the bonding is of a spontaneous type that sheds the next moment without increasing the karma balance. Whatever little balance of biological karma remains is eliminated in the last stage of a Tirthankara's life by a special process described in Jain texts; the soul is then liberated, becoming free from bonds forever.
The question of the status of time and space in the life of the Omniscient is important. The notion of empirical time is connected with matter and hence with the body. Therefore, concepts like the duration of time, age, time interval, etc. are valid only as long as the body is attached to the soul. For example, an Omniscient with a physical body can perceive time duration and can distinguish between past, present and future. The Omniscient in fact lives in two modes: in one, he is fully engaged in the self, the state of Samadhi, and is not aware of the body. In this mode, he lives in an eternal present, while past and future have lost their significance. In this state, empirical time collapses into present time; the past and future also becomes the present and all the modes of all substances are revealed to the Omniscient soul simultaneously. He is aware of these modes but does not take their cognizance, as the desire to interact is absent. There is another mode of omniscience in which the Omniscient soul is aware of its body and the activities of mind, speech and body, and hence is also aware of empirical time. In this mode, the Omniscient soul perceives the time difference between events and sees the past and future in the normal sense. It can also answer questions regarding the past and future modes of objects and substances.
The siddha, or liberated soul in the absence of a physical body, does not perceive empirical time. It experiences only an eternal present; past and future are meaningless to it. Absolute or transcendental time is still relevant, since the liberated soul experiences changes in modes which are now of a subtle, artha, type. With the collapse of empirical time, movements in the physical world lose their significance and the soul must perceive the loka in a steady state, the existence of all objects being reflected without any motion, i.e. the liberated soul sees the loka in a static condition; of course, it has nothing to do with the loka in the absence of interaction. It experiences the self and its inherent qualities all the time; this state is perfect by itself and requires no addition or deletion of any kind.
