Faith Knowledge and Conduct

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 22

THE TRUTH
13
(4) With reference to the fourth naya it will be
suicidal to forget that things have a substantial basis, and to conclude that the destruction of a house means the destruction
of the substance of its matter altogether. (5) With regard to the fifth naya it should never
be forgotten that when words are employed in a non-figurative sense their meaning is not to be twisted into metaphorical import. To read into the plain statement that the Sun rises in the East some mystical sense will be an instance of this type of error.
(6) The sixth nuya points to the allegorical signi
ficance. It will be destructive of reason to take it literally. Where an allegorical reading is indicated an historical interpretation will be calamitous; the one will pave the way to the Right Path, the other can but lead to ruin.
(7) With reference to the seventh naya it will be
a misdirection to say that a doctor is nothing but a doctor at all times.
Jaina metaphysics warns us against these errors, because the utmost precision of thought is necessary for metaphysical enquiry and the determination of truth.