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50 :: Aspects of Jaina Religion
statements and not to more. The reason why the number of modes is neither more nor less than seven is because it is believed that any complex situation is amenable to treatment by this seven-fold technique is one is adept in using at. Any attempt to add or subtract a mode will be found to be impossible since addition finds the mode already there among the existing seven modes, and subtraction will mutilate the essential limit from the scheme
Thus the doctrine of Anekāntavāda, comprising these seven propositions, is neither self-contradictory nor vague or indefinite; on the contrary, it represents a very sensible view of things in a systematized form.
Further, this doctrine of anekāntavāda is also called the doctrine of Sapta-bhangi, i.e., the doctrine of seven-fold predication, because these seven possible modes of expression can be used while describing a thing.
(4) Syādvāda and Nayavāda
From the above propositions it is obvious that Syādvāda complements the Nayavāda. Whereas the emphasis in Nayavāda is on an analytical approach to reality, on pointing out that different standpoints can be taken, the stress in Syādvāda is on the synthetic approach to reality, on reiterating that the different view-points together help us in comprehending the reality. As analysis and synthesis are not unrelated to each other we find elements of synthesis even in a purely analytical approach and elements of analysis even in a synthetic view of reality.
In more concrete terms: in nayavāda there is the recognition that over-emphasizing any one view would lead to a fallacy that different views have their value, that each one of them reflects reality and, therefore, that they together alone can give a sweep into reality. Similarly, in Syādvāda the systematic character of the modes of prediction, is highlighted with a clear understanding that various propositions have, each one of them, something to convey about reality itself.
