Book Title: Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture
Author(s): Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
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94 Anekantavāda and Syädvāda
individualism of Leibniz or the momentariness of Hume and Buddhism.
The terms like anyonyātmakatva.36 (mutuality) or anyonyavyāptibhāva? (mutual pervasiveness), used by Abhayadeva and Haribhadra in the somewhat limited context of concrete real, correspond, at least in a limited degree, to the Kantian idea of ‘reciprocity' or 'dynamical community' among the reals in Jainism. When we consider, however, the Jaina view of the universe as a fully interrelated or relativistic38 (sāpekṣa) system of reals, which in turn are causally efficient39 (arthakriyākārī) it is not difficult to see that the feature of Kantian ‘reciprocity' is implicitly contained in the structure of reality as envisaged by Jainism.40
In course of this brief enquiry into, and the illustration of, the steps in the development of the spirit of distinction involved in the theory of the Anekanta (the manifold or indeterminate) nature of reality we have observed that the notion of manifoldness not merely presupposes the notion of manyness or pluralism, but also contains the activistic implication of reciprocity or interaction among the reals in the universe. Although manifoldness is the most significant step in the dialectical analysis of the Jaina conception of reality, it comprehends and presupposes the other steps within its scope as a logical necessity. That is, independence of consciousness and the world), pluralism, interrelatedness and reciprocity or dynamism are component factors in the amplitude of the ontological as well as the epistemological significance of the relativistic notion of manifoldness or indetermination with which the entire reality is, according to Jainism, stamped (Syaavaa
1 (syadvādamudrānkitam).
Before proceeding, finally, to consider the theories of standpoints (nayavāda) and of the Conditional Predication (syadvada) or the Sevenfold Dialectic (saptabhangivāda, as syādvāda is otherwise called), it is necessary to point out that the whole above account of the nature of anekāntavāda, has aimed at progressively demonstrating the
36. TBV, p. 645. 37. AJP. Vol. I, p. 132. 38. It has been dealt with elsewhere. 39. It has been described elsewhere. 40. The notion of a mere interrelated universe has an idealistic flavour. The Jaina is a
thoroughgoing realist. This realistic spirit cannot, therefore, remain satisfied with a mere interrelatedness, but demands an impact or a double refraction', among the dynamic reals which influence or impinge upon one another proximately or remotely.
