Dr. Samani Mangal Pragya
The name of the thirtieth chapter of Bhagavatī itself, is Samavasaraṇa. In this śataka, there is a description of four samavasaraṇas namely, kriyāvāda, akriyavāda, ajñanavāda and vinayavāda.[1] Here, each school individually, such as kriyavada etc. is called as Samavasaraṇa.
Defining the Samavasaraṇa, the commentary of Bhagavatī Vṛtti states:
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Those beings who are endowed with various differences (pariṇama), but have some similarity and due to that similarity they are included in one particular belief system is referred to as Samavasaraṇa.
or
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Among the mutually different schools of kriyāvāda etc. finding some similarity, some philosophers brought them together and those schools are called as Samavasaraṇa.[2]
Another point of consideration is that, in all other texts, all the four schools have been considered as having perverted beliefs, but, in this context kriyāvāda in the Bhagavatī is taken as right belief.[3] It is written in Bhagavatī that a leśyi or a yogi kevali at a stage before salvation is a kriyāvādī.[4] Kriyavādīs are definitely bhavasiddhika (capable for liberation). Followers of the other three schools i.e. akriyāvādi, ajñānavādī, and vinayavādī, can be both bhavasiddhika and abhavasiddhika.[5] Beings with a mixed faith, are neither kriyāvādī nor
akriyāvādī, but, are vinayavādī or ajñānavādī.[6] The above mentioned description of Bhagavatī clearly proves that Jain philosophy is a kriyāvādī philosophy.
