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ANEKÄNTAVÄDA - AN ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND MEN their viewpoints. This allows us to live in harmony with people of different thinking. This is known as the Syädväda, Anekäntaväda, or multiplicity of viewpoints
According to Jain metaphysics, innumerable material and spiritual substances, each of, which is the locus of innumerable qualities, constitute reality. Not only are there innumerable substances, each with innumerable quality, but each quality is susceptible to an infinite number of modifications. Clearly ordinary knowledge (non-omniscient) cannot comprehend this complex reality, for ordinary knowledge is limited not only by the limited power of the senses and reason, but also by the perspectives adopted by the knower as well as by the conditions of space, time, light, and so on.
Emphasizing the limits of ordinary knowledge, Jainism developed the theory that truth is relative to the perspective (Naya) from, which it is known. Furthermore, because reality is many sided and knowledge true only from a limited perspective, all knowledge claims are only tentative (Syät) having the form, "X may be Y," rather than "X is Y."
Like the blind men, each person perceives things from their own perspective. These perspectives are determined by many factors, including socio cultural conditioning, particular place, time, light, hopes, fears and, of course, subject to the limitation of our sensory receptors and reasoning power. A person seeking profit sees everything in terms of gains and losses; insecure people sees threats everywhere and a person devoted to God sees everything as God's blessed creation.
When it is understood that knowledge is limited by the particular perspective from which side it is achieved, it becomes easy to see that knowledge claims are conditioned by the limitation of the perspective that it assumes and should always be expressed as only tentatively true. Just as the blind men should have been more circumspect, saying for example, "Standing here, feeling the object with my hands, it feels like a winnowing fan. It may be a winnowing fan." So should everyone understand that their knowledge claims should be asserted only conditionally.
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Fight with yourself, why fight with external foes? He, who conquers himself through himself, will obtain happiness.
JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE I
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