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Celebrating Jain Society of Houston Pratishtha Mahotsav 1995
Every principle of the Jain Philosophy is considered in the light of Syadvada. Syad means, in a sense, to form a certain standpoint, and Vada implies principle or school.
It points out relatively or true nature of a thing which cannot be explained in definite terms. Jains maintain that a thing is possessed of many characteristics and we express the thing only in one or more of these characteristics. The relationships between the things and those characteristics cannot be fully stated in a pure statement. The same thing appears to be of a different type from different standpoints. To comprehend the aspect, one must take into account, several standpoints or views. Syadvada is also known as Anekantvada, or the Doctrine of Manifold Aspects. Anekantvada describes the world as diverse, ever-changing reality, and infinite view points depending on the time, place, nature, and state of the one who is the viewer and that which is viewed.
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What is true from one point of view is open to question from another. Absolute truth cannot be grasped from any particular view point alone. Absolute truth is the total of all the different view points.
The Syadvada, with its Sapta Bhang or seven prepositions of modes of expressions each dealing with a particular aspect of a thing under consideration, yields complete truth regarding that thing. These modes are related and each presupposes the other (each implies the other).
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For an illustration, a man is a son from his father's point of view, a father from his son's point of view, a brother from his sister's point of view, and a husband from his wife's point of view.
Relativity is the deception of creative thinking. It is an honest effort to look at truth in its proper perspective. The art of choosing right time and right place and while doing so a Jain does not neglect other angles, but accepts them passively in their due importance. Jainism says that relativity is mental non-violence.
Syadvada, if properly understood, reveals the true nature of a thing. The Syadvada is a unique gift of the Jain Religion to the world. It can play the ultimate role of bringing harmony among conflicting beliefs and thereby universal fellowship will shine.
"Our own faulty are not minimized by magnifying the faulty of others"
(Jawaharlal Nehru)
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