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Anekant and Mutual Tolerance
- By Prof. M. L. jain
Every living being, every religion tries to answer and faces three Central questions in every country all the time in search of happiness, bliss and truth (i) What should I believe in ? What is the correct faith? (ii) What should I learn? What should I know? (iii) What should I do? What actions should I take to achieve eternal happiness and bliss.
There are two ways in which the above questions have been answered. One is by EKANTWAAD- one sided absolutism. One insists on one's own truth of his own faith and absolutely denies the validity of the opposite view. Such a view many a time has promoted hate. I Quote Martin Luther King
Hate in reply of hate multiplies hate, and the darkness of a starless night becomes more dark. Darkness can not remove darkness Hate multiplies hate:It is only light that can remove it. Voilence muttiplies voilence And Muscle power multiplies muscle power. Ultimately that cyclone descends downward And there is destruction all around.
- Martin Luther King Jains go out in search of the point of view of ANEKANTWAAD. The apparently conflicting religions can be reconciled by Jaina principle of many sidedness or non absolutism. This principle promotes mutual tolerance because there may be apparant differences in different religions in rituals and matters of ceremony, but there is strong under current of similar principles and values in all religions. There is a fundamental unity at the root of all religions. I quote - Fritjof Capra Fritjof Capra says:
When the mind is disturbed Multiplicity of objects take shape But when the mind is silent
