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Sri Rāmānujācarya and Jainism
विरुध्यन्तेऽर्पणाभेदात् । पुत्रापेक्षया पिता, पितृपेक्षया पुत्रः इत्येवमादिः । Sarvārthasiddhi. V.32). (2) अर्पणाभेदादविरोधः पितापुत्रादिसंबंधवत् । -Tattvärtharājavārtika, p. 36). The so-called opposites such as existence and non-existence, permanence and change, oneness and maniness, etc., can be attributed to an object from various points of view. They can remain in the same object without contradicting each other. Samantabhadra gives beautiful anology to show that, opposite attributes, such as origination, destruction and permanence can exist in one and the same thing without contradicting each other. He says, ‘if a golden pot is destroyed and a golden crown is made out of it, destruction, origination and permanence (as a gold) happen simultaneously and give rise to sorrow, joy and indifferent attitude respectively in the minds of three different kinds of people, those in favour of the pot, those in favour of the crown and those in favour of the gold itself (घटमौलीसुवर्णार्थीनाशोत्पादस्थितिष्वयम् । शोकप्रमोदमाध्यस्थ्यं जनो याति सहेतुकम् | Aptamīmārsā, 59 ) .
Jaina philosophers never say that contradictory attributes belong to the same thing at the same time and in the same sense. It is said that everything exists in its own individuality and does not exist in the individuality of another. Were it not so, everything would be alike existent and thus, there would possibly be no individuality. (सर्वमस्तिस्वरूपेण पररूपेण नास्ति च । अन्यथा सर्वसत्त्वं Tattvärtharājavārtika, p. 24).
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A thing is regarded as a real from the point of view of its own matter (substance), form, space and time and it is regarded as unreal, not from the same
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