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INTRODUCTION,
case of púpa karmas of Soul, be considered as separate principles, instead of being included, as they are here, under Asrava, there will be 9 principles.
The knowledge of these principles is acquired by means of pramúņas (proofs of knowledge) and nayas (the methods of comprehending things from different standpoints). Thus nayas are essential to the acquisition of true knowledge.
In the parable of the blind men we saw that the knowledge of each of them was only partially true, and that their different and seemingly conflicting views only needed a comprehensive and all-embracing statement to be reconciled to one another. Precisely the same is the case with philosophy and religion, and the comprehensive survey of the different aspects of things presented by Jaina philosophy enables us, at once, to reconcile the seemingly hostile and irreconcilable views of all the non-Jaina doctrines of the ekúntaváda (one-sided) type.
Comprehensiveness of thought, then, is the real basis of philosophy. But since ordinary speech is ill suited to the requirements of such a system of
Thought, the ácharyas had to resort to a unique system of predication to carry on their metaphysical discussions. This system, known as the Saptabhangi, is the basis of the synthetical comprehensiveness of
