________________
212
4) syādavaktavya (indescribable). 5) syādasti avaktavya.
6) syānnāsti avaktavya.
7) syādasti nāsti avaktavya.
Of these seven kinds of predications, the first two alone are simple judgments. The rest are all complex predications, describing things from different points of view at the same time. A thing is said to be avaktavya, i.e., indescribable, when existence and nonexistence are both attributed to it at one and the same time, as must be the case with pure abstractions, such as heat, cold, goodness, etc., etc. They cannot exist by themselves, that is, apart from the substances in which they inhere, and yet are capable of being mentally conceived in the abstract. Hence, they are indescribable and unanalysable any further.
Naya-karnikā
Thus, the Saptabhangi is the method of synthesis devised to express the comprehensive knowledge of things, without being inconsistent or illogical. The Nayas enable us to study the nature of things from the analytical point of view: and the Saptabhangi sums up the results of the investigation in a systematic logical way.
To conclude, the different kinds of Nayas are the instruments of analysis whereby different aspects of things are isolated and studied from different points of view, and the Saptabhangi is the method of synthesis which sums up the results of investigation in logical thought. They are both essential to avoid the common errors of the ekānta-vādins of the non-Jaina schools of philosophy and for arriving at the true nature of things. It is the philosophy of the Syād-vāda propounded, in full, for the last time, by Bhagavān
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
