Jain Journal 2005 01

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

Page 31

130
JAIN JOURNAL: VOL-XXXIX. NO. 3 JANUARY. 2005
that “To conceal one's own blemishes, and to establish one's own viewpoints, some people change the dictates of religion and take people to the wrong direction. Such persons do not speak the truth at all, because of such circumstances people search true religion but do not
get it.”
Jainācāryas further have explained saying that the theory of truth seen by others was only partial and not the absolute truth. They compared it with a story of seven blind persons judging the elephant from seven different angles, where each one was correct in his own way. But none of them could see the elephant as a whole. By this example, the Jainācāryas meant that truth could be experienced only when all the partial truths were put together and not otherwise. The theory introduced by Jainācāryas looked bright, but they could not sustain it on account of lack of their own understanding of the doctrine. When this supremacy was forced upon, it went against the original dictates of Jainism. As such the theory of Anekānta put up in any way could not withstand the tests. As discussed above theories and philosophies are the subject of the intellectuals only and not of the masses. The doctrines established by the intellectuals are seldom understood by the masses. The doctrines established by the intellectuals are seldom understood by the masses. The intellectuals seldom agree among themselves as we see in the case of Darśanas and Upanişadas and other different works. The masses simply follow the easily understandable fancy stories.
To reach the masses stories describing the supremany of one's own religion were introduced on the pattern of Hindu mythological literature. It is a fact worth noting that when somebody boasts and others also boast in superlative terms, the idea behind it is to show his own supremacy and degrade the others. Below are given some of the examples.
In his book Dhurtākhyāna Jainācārya Haribhadra Sūri has criticized Hindu Paurāņic stories by getting them proved to be true