________________
Naya is a point of view, a vision and a way of thinking. There are as many naya as there are ways of speaking. Through the substantial point of view things are described with respect to their ultimate substance and through the modal point of view they are described with respect to its modification i.e. their origination-cessation or impermanence. One naya only analyses a portion of the whole, so naturally the remaining portion too remains allied to it. Modes are innumerable hence viewpoints too are innumerable. Naya is absolutism, but it is in no way the false angle to perception. It bears no eagerness to perceive wholeness in a portion; it is not an exposition of absolute truth. Hence there is scope for healthy contemplation through naya. According to the anekānta (a multi-faceted viewpoint or non-absolutism) school of thought totally identity and totally divergence is an absolutist approach. With this approach truth cannot be explained properly. The Jain philosophers have endeavoured to amalgamate abhed (identity) and bhed (divergence) and reduce ideological conflict.
Key-Words Abhed
- identity Abhed vritti and abhedopachar - perspective of identity Achetan
inanimate Bhed
divergence Chetan
animate Evambhoot naya
viewpoint of function Jiva
soul Naya
viewpoint Pudagal
physical substance of
matter Samabhirudh naya
etymological
viewpoint Samyag darshan
right vision or proper Perspective
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
