Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): A B Latthe
Publisher: Natha Rangaji

Page 64

56
An Account of
non-existence í Syad nasti avaktavya ) and also of both ( Syad asti nasti avaktavya ). What is meant by these seven modes is that a thing should not be considered as existing everywhere, at all times, in all ways, and in the form of every thing. It may exist in one place and not in another, at one time and not at another, &c. It is not meant by these modes that there is no certainty or that we have to deal with probabilities only, as some scholars liave thought. All that is implied is that every assertion which is true is truə only under certain conditions of space, time &c. This is the substance of the section which treats of Dravyasamanya or Dravya generally."
Had Jainism been atheistic, the Vedas would not have referred to it in respectful terms. Says the Rig Veda:ॐ त्रैलोक्यप्रतिष्ठितानां चतुर्विशतितीर्थकराणां ॥
ऋषभादिवर्द्धमानान्तानां सिद्धानां शरणं प्रपद्ये १
" I bow down to the twentyfour