Basic Principles Of Jainism

Author(s): Narayan Lal Kachhara
Publisher: Narayan Lal Kachhara

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undergo changes separately, but there exists a relation between the two existences such that the changes in the two are mutual. The soul in this view is not the doer of bhava karma, and therefore of the dravya karma and the actions of the connected gross body. From the vyavahara naya point of view the soul is united with the bhava karma and is doer of bhava karma and therefore is also the experience and enjoyer of the consequences of the bonded karma. The later view presents the practical position of the being. The first view emphasizes the fact that in the absolute sense the soul is always in pure state and becomes siddha when karmas are eliminated.
Nayavada is a warning to those philosophers who assert that their system is absolute and all comprehensive: it shows the way to reconciliation of conflicting view-points and harmonization of all stand-points by appreciating the relativity of the different aspects of reality. Nayas thus reveal only a part of the totality and they should not be mistaken for the whole. Because of this infinite-fold constitution of a thing, there shall be infinite Nayas, and the same can be classified under broad heads as seven, two and so forth. As Akalanka defines, Naya is a particular approach of the knower (nayo inatur abhiprayah). A synthesis of these different viewpoints is a practical necessity: therein every view-point must be able to retain its relative importance and this is fulfilled by Syadvada.
Syadvada
It is clear that the analytical stand-points refer to partial truths and it is only their synthetic combination that will bring harmony into a coherent scheme of knowledge. That is the synthetic method employed by the doctrine of Syadvada. This is illustrated by many Jaina thinkers by the parable of seven blind men and the elephant. One blind man feels the leg and says that the elephant is like a pillar, the other feels its body and says that it is like a wall, the third feels its ear and says that it is like a winnowing pan. Thus each feels only one organ of the elephant and regards that it alone represents the whole truth. For a person who can see the whole elephant with his eyes, it is clear that individual views of each blind man represents only a partial truth and the whole reality can be understood by the logical harmonization of all the view-points. This will further indicate that each view is only relative and expressive of only that which is felt by the sense of touch.
It is thus clear that Syadvada relates to knowledge derived only through the senses. We have shown above while discussing Nayavada that the various methods of approach can be grasped and analyzed. A synthesis of these methods or modes forms the basis of Syadvada. Syadvada is thus a corollary of Nayavada; the latter is analytical and primarily conceptual and the former is synthetic and mainly verbal. It should be expressly understood that 1) the doctrine of Asti-Nasti is distinctly confined to the world of reality only or to an object in the world 2) the doctrine should not be applied to non-existing things. The application of contexts or reference systems is also an ingredient of the theory of Syadavada. The main function of Syadavada comes out to be the selection of a proper context and the discernment of the truth implied in it.
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