Essence of Jainism

Author(s): Sukhlal Sanghavi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 41

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(3) Just as we have the patience to explain our own point of view
we should also have the liberality and anxiousness to understand the views of others. We should be endowed with the inclination to compare and cxamine the peculiar traits and limitations of both from all angles of vision possible. Again, if one finds that his side is weak or faulty, he should feel
happier in its abandonment as compared to its earlier acceptance. (4) No absolute truth is limited by country, time or heritage.
Man should therefore be inclined to took at things from all angles of vision and to bring about a synthesis of these if he finds part-truth in each one.
(Darjan ane Cintan, pt. one, pp. 36–39) Phflosophy and Cult
It would, first of all, be proper to see what philosophy is and also what its real meaning can be. In a similar manner, it would be proper to ponder over the meaning of cult and what its relation to philosophy is, what virtues and faults have crept in as a result of this relation and so on. Generally, all understand, believe that philosophy means a direct perception of the Supreme Reality. All philosophers believe that only their philosophy of the cult is of the pature of direct perception. Here, the question is this. What does direct perception mean ? Only one reply to this question is possible. Direct perception can be only that in which there is no scope for delusion or doubt, and there is no difference or opposition to or contradiction of the reality perceived. If such a definition of philosophy is acceptable to all, then this is the next question. Why are there so many different outlooks in the philosophies of these sects? Why are there mutual oppositions in reference to wbich there is no compromise? There is only one way out of this doubt. Let us derive some other meaning from the word philosophy'. If the meaning
direct perception of the word "pbilosophy' found in the scriptures since centuries is correct and precise, then all philosophical systems of the sects can be distributed in and grasped from the
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