Answer

Yes, some modern influential Jain leaders and reform-oriented teachers did affirm that keval-jñān — omniscience — is spiritually possible, because Jain Dharma teaches that every soul has the inherent capacity to become omniscient by completely destroying the obscuring karmas.

However, whether they specifically claimed that people in the present era can actually attain keval-jñān in this very lifetime depends on the Jain tradition and teacher.

Explanation

In Jain Dharma, omniscience is called keval-jñān. It arises when the soul destroys all jñānāvaraṇīya karma and other obstructing karmas connected with delusion and perception.

Modern Jain leaders and reformers generally upheld this core Jain doctrine:

• Śrīmad Rājchandra strongly emphasized that liberation and direct realization of the soul are real goals, not merely theoretical ideas. He accepted the Jain path of progressing toward keval-jñān, though traditional interpretation does not treat him as having publicly declared himself a kevalī.
• Āchārya Śrī Vijay Vallabhsūri, Āchārya Śrī Tulsi, and other modern Jain ācāryas taught the classical Jain view that omniscience is the natural perfected state of the soul when karmic bondage is destroyed.
• Kanjiswāmī, an influential Digambar-oriented teacher of the 20th century, strongly emphasized inner soul-realization and the possibility of spiritual advancement, while grounding his teaching in Digambar Jain doctrine.

But there is an important distinction:

• Believing keval-jñān is possible in principle is standard Jain doctrine.
• Believing someone will attain keval-jñān in the present era, in this very lifetime is a more specific claim and is treated differently by different Jain traditions.

Many traditional Jain communities hold that in the present phase of the time-cycle, especially in Bharat Kṣetra during the current avasarpiṇī, the conditions for attaining liberation from this region are no longer present after the time of Lord Mahāvīr’s immediate era. Therefore, they may say that one can make great spiritual progress now, but final liberation or keval-jñān in the full traditional sense is not ordinarily available here at present.

Some devotional or reform movements may speak more strongly about the immediacy of spiritual realization, but careful Jain understanding separates:

• ātma-anubhava — experience or realization of the soul,
• samyag-darśan — right faith,
• higher guṇasthānas — advanced spiritual stages,
• keval-jñān — perfect omniscience.

These are not the same.

Spiritual Understanding

Jain Dharma teaches that the soul’s true nature includes infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss, and infinite energy. Keval-jñān is not a gift from outside; it is the soul’s own pure nature revealed when karmic coverings are completely removed.

So modern Jain teachers often encouraged seekers not to think of Jain Dharma as only ritual or culture, but as a living path of purification, self-discipline, non-violence, detachment, and inner awakening.

Takeaway

Modern Jain leaders generally believed in the reality of omniscience as taught by Jain Dharma. But the claim that one can attain full keval-jñān in this current lifetime, in the present era, is not uniformly accepted and depends on sectarian doctrine and interpretation. A careful Jain answer is: keval-jñān is always the soul’s ultimate potential, but its actual attainment in the present time and place is understood differently across Jain traditions.