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Concomitance Between the Permanent and the Impermanent.
The first axiom of anekānta or non-absolutism is the concomitance of the permanent and the impermanent, the truth of one is verified by the truth of the other. The anekāntic dialogue goes as,
Gautama : Is the soul permanent or impermanent? Mahāvīra : The soul is permanent as well as impermanent.
From the substantial point of view, soul neither originates nor perishes, so it is permanent. From the conventional point of view, the modes of knowledge and intuition of consciousness (soul) originates and perishes. In case of matter also Mahāvīra said that from the above mentioned two nayas, matter is also permanent and impermanent both.
Gautama understood the nature of two basic Realities namely, jiva and ajiva.So the right worldview towards the life and world of affairs aroused in him. He began to apply this formula of two fold perspectives and began to think whether the unstable changes or the stable changes. He wanted to solve this problem that origination and cessation occurs in the modes or in permanent nature of the substance. Where does the change occurs and what makes the reality to be permanent. In the quest of the truth, he had a series of conversations with the Mahāvīra regarding axiomatic nature of reality.
The following dialogue is an illustration, which throws light on the concomitance of one and many. Concomitance of One and Many
Somila : 0 Lord! Are you one or many?
Lord : “I am one, in respect of substance, O Somila. However, in respect of knowledge and intuition I am two. In respect of parts (constituents of a substance). I am immutable,
Bhagavaī. op.cit., verse-7.2.58-59.
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