Aspects of Jaina Religion

Author(s): Vilas Sangve
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 52

48 :: Aspects of Jaina Religion
3. The Doctrine of Syādvāda
(1) Term Syādvāda
The doctrine of nayavāda provides the framework for the doctrine of Syādvāda, since it clearly points out that reality can be looked at from many different standpoints, and that no standpoint can be claimed as the only valid one. The term Syādvāda is derived from the term syāt meaning 'in some respect'. If the aim of philosophical enquiry is to comprehend reality, the Jaina philosophers point out that it cannot be achieved by merely formulating certain simple, categorical propositions. Reality being complex any one simple proposition cannot express the nature of reality fully. That is the reason why the term syāt, i.e., 'in some respect', is appended to the various propositions concerning reality by the Jaina philosophers. In this way, seven propositions are put forward by the Jaina philosophers without any absolute affirmation whatsoever in regard to any one of them. That is why each affirmation is preceded by the phrase "syāt, i.e., 'in some respect. This indicates that the affirmation is only relative, made somehow, from some point of view and under some reservations and is not in any sense absolute.
(2) Meaning of Syādvāda
It is not enough if various problems about reality are merely understood from different points of view. What one knows one must be able to state truly and correctly. This need is met by the doctrine of Syādvāda or Anekāntavāda, i.e., manysided view-point.
It is a fact that the object of knowledge is a vast complexity covering infinite modes, that human mind is of limited understanding, and that human speech has its imperfections in expressing the whole range of experience. Under these circumstances all our statements are conditionally or relatively true. Hence every statement must be qualified with the term syāt, i.e., 'in some respect, or ‘somehow', or 'in a way', with a view to emphasise its conditional or relative character,