Anekantavada

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Atmanand Jain Sabha

Page 18

eluded the grasp of most of them. Diverse doctrines, often each contradicting the other, have come to be propounded by exponents of philosophy. In the bewildering mass of philoBophic literature a man is likely to get lost. It is a Herculean task to comprehend the innumerable theories about the universe and to catch hold of the right one.
A science which can dispagsionately scrutinise the diverse doctrines, which can reconcile the apparently inconsistent and which can give to each one its rightful place is eminently a science whioh is indispensable to one in search of Truth. That science is known as the science of Syād-vāda. Sāpeksha-vāda, Naya-vāda and Anekānta-vāda are all synonyms of Syad-vāda. It is to the credit of Jainism that it has given to the world the science of Syád-vāda, which has greatly enriched the world-philosophy.
The dootrine of Syād-vāda means a doctrine which entertains within its fold overy possible theory. By possible theory is meant a theory, which really exists from a particular standpoint and not an imaginary or unreal theory. An imaginary or unreal theory exists only in imagination and is not a possible theory. A man,