ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 02

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 124

B.2.3.2
Concept of Naya in Jainism
Dr. Anekanta Jain
1. Introduction This universe of ours is complex and it comprises of infinite realities. It is impossible for human intellect to have the simultaneous view of the totality of the infinity and infinitum, with all its subjective and objective characteristics, and with all its aspects of dialectical opposites, such as one and many, similar and dissimilar, eternal and ephemeral, determinate and indeterminate, prior and subsequent, cause and effect, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. The view taken by the finite Jīva (self/soul) and presented by its limited intellect is never a whole view. It is always partial. It is nearly a relative view - relatable to this beliefs, prejudice, mood and purpose of the seer.
It would be seen that a single substance is endowed with infinite modification and there are infinite classes of substances; and to know one substance fully is to know the whole range of the objects of knowledge. This is possible only in omniscience, which is called Kevala-jñāna in Jainism, and its domain is beyond the cognition of the senses. A substance is endowed with qualities, attributes modes and modifications. Although the substance is the same, it comes to be different because of its passing through different - modifications. So when something is to be stated about a substance, or anything for that matter, viewed through flux of modifications, there would be seven modes of predication. This is known as Naya in Jainism.
2. The Concept of Naya Different thinkers have taken different views and perceptions about the universe, reality, and the ultimate end. The philosophical standpoints propounded by them are nihilism, monism, dualism, materialism, atheism, and the like, each one of these 'isms' expresses only one aspect of manifoldness; and in turn, there can obviously be various points if views. According to Jain Philosophy, each view is true from a particular stand-point of the seer and none of them is exhaustive. This perception or conception of grasping a particular standpoint at a given situation presented through the concept of Naya in Jainism, and it is even called as Nayavāda and Syādvāda are the two main wings of anekāntavāda.
2.1. Systematic Development of the Concept of Naya
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