________________
I AM MAHĀVĪRA
40
realize a point in a holistic way. He becomes mono-sided. This
one-sidedness was making the blind men quarrelling."
"Every entity has many kinds of attribute. We should know not only one, but all of these attributes. The dispute arises only when one of the attributes is insisted upon."
"There is a man. His son calls him as 'father.' His cousin
calls him as 'uncle'. His maternal cousin calls him as 'maternal uncle'. His brother calls him as 'brother.' Somebody calls him by 'father-in-law. Whosoever is there, he calls him by different
relationship."
"He is a single man. But he holds the relationships as seen by different people. Nevertheless, his single form of relationship is not the whole of him. He has infinite forms. Every form is found in
him. All the forms make him up."
"Similarly, every sentient and non-sentient entity has varied forms. The world itself has varied forms. The form of variedness is called 'poly-viewism' or Anekāntavāda. Our lookingat things should be poly-viewistic."
"Of course, the truth is one. It will appear in the way we look at it. We know the whole truth when we look at it from all corners. All the doctrines or disputes of the world express one or other form of truth with absolutism. Add all these forms and they
will make up the whole truth. All the people holding their view
postulate it as the 'only' true view. However, the fact is that their Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
