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as its aspect. In fact, a thing can not be the same thing without the negation of other things in it. For example, a colour can not remain a colour without the negation of other characteristics like taste, smell etc. in it. Thus non-existence is as much an essential aspect of the real as existence is. Negative propositions can not be asserted without accepting non-existence as an element in the constitution of the real. Similarly, the characteristics of one and many permanence and change, generality and particularity are reconciled in a thing without any incongruity. Thus when the Jinist is faced with the problems of expressing the complex content of knowledge in language in a way which can communicate to the other the knowledge as such, he had to devise the method of Syādvāda. The word 'Syāt' when added to a proposition is indicative of the presence of multiple characteristic in a thing in addition to the characteristic referred to in the proposition under consideration. In the proposition 'Syāt Ghața is colourful' the word ‘Syāt implies that the subject Ghața is a manifold of attributes, of which the attribute of being colourful referred to in the proposition is there being colourful referred to in the propositions is there in the Ghata as a matter of fact. This should not be understood, as it is generally done, to mean that the existence of colour in the Ghata is doubtful. In other words, certainty of colour along with the manifoldness of characteristics is indicated by the word ‘Syāt'. ::
The word 'Syāt'. can also be understood differently, though the difference is of expression and not of meaning already discussed. As already pointed out, a thing is the repository of infinite attributes. Hence the apprehension of it from a particular angle of vision or point of view, technically called Naya, does not exhaust the whole of the multiphased thing. It is important to note that the Naya is objectively given and not subjectively contemplated. So in order to avoid the possible misunderstanding that a thing is exhausted by a particular Naya, every predication should be preceded by the word Syāt, thus making us aware of the possibility of other predications in regard to that thing. Thus Syādvāda is the Jaina Mysticism and other essay
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