Anekantavada

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

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other. A thing of experience is an undivided whole, which shows that its underlying substance and the mode are to be identified in an equally real sense. The Nyaya thinkers contend that if
the distinction between the substance and the modification be not held to be rigid and real, then the substance underlying a thing would be varied with the variation on the modes and the modes identified with the basic substance would be but one and the self-same after all. The Jainas acknowledge it and assert that it is exactly the position they take. The substance underlying a thing may be said to be manifold, undergoing, as it does from time to time, a change in its from in accordance with the changing modes and the modes, notwithstanding their varying chara cters, are one with reference to the immutability of their basic substance. A substance is impo ssible without a form, in and though which it appears and a modification is also impossible without the basic substance, of which it is the form for the time being. The Jainas carry this doctrine even to the extra-mundane sphere and maintain that even in Moksa, the emancipated soul-substance is not without its attributes and modifications. A freed soul, according to the Jainas, has four infinite attributes of joy, power