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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
Reality in the Jaina view is a permanent subject of changing states. To be, to stand in relation, to be active, to act upon other things. to oboy law, to be a cause, to be a permanent subject of states, to be the same to-day as yesterday, to be identical in spite of its varying activities, these are the Jaina conceptions of reality. More becoming is as much an abstraction as mere being. In short, being and becoming are complements of the full notion of a reality." *
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This is also the reply which Jainism gives to Vedanta concerning the nature of existence. Pure existence is a logical abstraction, and can exist by itself only in thought. In actual life, existence means to subsist with reference to material, place, time and qualities; but that only means to co-exist with other things.
In this manner does Jainism pull down the structure of different philosophies with its ruthless logic. But has it anything to offer us itself in return for the damage it does to our beliefs? Yes, it has; and that which it offers us is not only free from the faults which it points out in other systems, but is also the only satisfactory explanation of things and facts of experience which rational thought can accept.
Jainism points out that all the above schools of thought have fallen into error on account of their onesidedness. They only look at things from one particular point of view, and ignore all others. This is not the way to deal with the living Reality which overflows mental speculation on all sides. Hence, if any one wishes to get hold of the whole truth, he must first put himself in different attitudes to study things from all possible points of view. This particular method of study, called the anekanta, is the one which Jainism itself adopts. With its aid it not only points out the element of truth in *See 'The Jaina Philosophy,' App., pp. 20 and 21.
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