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ANEKANTAVADA-SYADVADA
319
or prophetic statement, they would find their minds becoming trained in the right direction to enquire into the stand-point of the prophet who made any particular statement... It would also
able us to reconcile many a contradictory statement in the scriptures of the same creed as well as those of different faiths; for it does often happen that a statement which is wrong from one particular point of view is not so from another, e. g., one observer might say that a bowl full of water contains no air, while another might decribe it as containing nothing else but air, both being right from their respective stand-points since water is only gaseous matter in its essence though manifested in the from of liquid substance owing to the action of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen on one another. 43
Syādvāda is not merely speculative in character but provides the key to a solution of the ontological problems. It has supplied the philosopher with catholicity of thought, convincing him that Truth is not anybody's monopoly with tariff walls of denominational religion, while furnishing the religious aspirant with the virtue of intellectual toleration which is that part of Ahimsā which is one of the fundamental tenets of Jainism. 44
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