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meager, and helps in cultivating the virtue of respect for others faith and for a peaceful harmonious world.
5.17 Education and Anekānta
Anekāntavāda implies liberalism. This principle classifies that only one aspect of a thing or issue may not be acceptable. Regarding any idea or proposition there may be two or more sides. Therefore, in order to reach a right judgment on a certain issue, we have to take into consideration its various aspects. In today's democratic era, it is quite natural to have various points of view or a variety of opinions, regarding a certain idea. It may not be possible that the stand of a teacher or that of any student in a class will be accepted by all the students in the class. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the various views expressed by the students in a class. In reaching a decision each student should have the self-satisfaction that his viewpoints has also been duly considered. This feeling on the part of the student will promote the development of his personality and help in adopting a liberal attitude about things. In the modern style of teaching , the teacher should try to coordinate the various views of the student's posing a consistency that is acceptable as a whole. Evidently, the same idea cannot be imposed on all students. Accordingly, we should instead of merely learning it, as a school of philosophy, treat it as a manual to guide our practical politics, economics, civics, sociology and ethics, and even physical science. Let not the light of anekānta remain hidden in the books of Jainism. It should be allowed to spread everywhere, without any inhibition of a label, a dogma, or a sect. Anekānta belongs to the whole humanity. The famous dictum of Tulsi is, “Reform yourself and the world will be reformed”. We are indeed passing through the most critical phase of human history, when the mankind is threatened with the nuclear catastrophe.
Ācārya Tulsi. Srāvaka Sambodh. op.cit., p. 45.
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