Jain Journal 1973 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 19

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JAIN JOURNAL
Some thinkers like Sankara and Ramanuja see contradiction in the above statement. Jaina logician Ananta Virya has refuted the charges asserting that reality consists of Positive and Negative assertions, therefore, we should be honest and faithful to reality. We cannot change the nature of objects, according to conjectures. Our duty is to describe reality as we experience it. Our thinking cannot affect the nature of the objects. Supposing the Parliament passes a resolution that the Sun has no right to always rise in the East, other directions also should have the blessings of having the Sun's rise ; do you think that this sort of suggestion or desire of the members will change the Sun-rise from the East to other directions? Certainly not; therefore, it is fair on our part to describe reality in its naked majesty without fear or favour.
Einstein's theory of Relativity, helps us to comprehend the rationality and soundness of this philosophy of Syādvāda. Einstein's remarks are illuminating, “If my theory of relativity is proven suc Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare me that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew." He explains his theory in these words, “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it is longer than a hour. This is relativity.” (Hitavāda, 8th March 1970).
We must owe our allegiance not to our books but to unmasked truth. Blind faith in the perverted stand of our ancestors will put hurdles in the way of our intellectual as well as material advancement. Reality has no relationship with ancestors or antiquity or the views of the majority. The crucification of the idol of love and goodness—Jesus Christ, clearly proves that the majority view should not always be supposed to reflect truth or justice. Reality is in fact related to Truth and Justice. It is associated with head and not counting of hands. The forgetfulness of this basic point has brought about tragedy of huge errors resulting in horrifying incidents in human history.
The remarks of James Froude are illuminating, "We cannot make true things false or false things true by choosing to think them so. We cannot vote right into wrong or wrong into right. The eternal truths and rights and things exist fortunately independent of our thoughts or wishes, fixed as mathematics inherent in the nature of man and the world."
Truth is not one-sided; therefore, one-sided view is sure to go against truth and reality. You cannot describe that your pencil five inches