Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture

Author(s): Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 155

138 Anekāntavāda and Syädvāda
failure. But even this failure is a necessary step to be reckoned with in the dialectical method of syadvāda. Being at once an inescapable and unique fact in our grappling with reality it cannot but be provided for as a dialectically possible or alternative position. K.C. Bhattacharya clearly expresses this position in the following words : "It (the inexpressible) is objective as given : it cannot be said to be not a particular position nor to he non-existent. At the same time it is not the definite distinction of position and existence : it represents a category by itself. The commonsense principles implied in its recognition is that what is given cannot be rejected simply because it is not expressible by a single positive concept. A truth has to be admitted if it cannot be got rid of even if it is not understood."177
The remaining three178 modes are derived from combining the three primary concepts in such a way that these three, combined with the four modes hitherto expounded, exhaust all the possible or alternative aspects of truth concerning the object in question (the jar in the present instance).
The fifth mode, viz., "In a certain sense, the jar is, and is inexpressible''. asserts the truth of the 'being' of the jar conjointly with the inexpressible truth of the compresence (or co-presentation of the being and the non-being of the same object.!79 This is a combined mode derived from bringing together the first and the fourth predicates in a complex expressed judgment.
The sixth mode, viz., “In a certain sense, the jar is not, and is inexpressible', asserts the truth of non-being of the jar conjointly wi the inexpressible truth of the compresence of the 'being' and t 'non-being of the same object.180 This, again, is a combined mode
177. JTA. p. 48. 178. After mentioning the four 'ways' or 'steps' of the 'formula' (svādväda) Hiriyanna
observes : 'It may seem that the formula night stop here. But there are stili other ways in which the alternatives can be combined. To avoid the impression that those predicates are excluded, three more steps are added. The resulting description becomes exhaustive, leaving no room for the charge of dogma in any form.:; OIP,
p. 165. 179. Cf. yugapad asānketikenaikenaiva šabdena vaktum vivaksitah kumbhah sans ca
vaktavyaś ca bhavati, ghato'vakten'yaś ca bhavatitvarthah dese tasya ghatatvāt,
dese cāvaktavyatvād iti/SHM in VB), gā. 2232. 180. Cf. tathā, ekadese paruparyāvaih asudbhavenārpito visesit n'nyasmins tu dese
svaparaparyāyaiḥ sadbhāvāsadbhāvābhyamsattväsattväbhyam yugapad asanketikenaikena śabdena vaktum vivaksitah kumbho'sannavaktavyaś ca bhavati/ Ibid.