Jain System in Nutshell

Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Nij Gyan Sagar Shiksha Kosh Santa MP

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to cultivate the scientific outlook from the very beginning. Acharanga mentions the seen, heard, experienced and well-thought truth. One must be inquirer to learn through intelligence and wisdom. Uttaradhyayan24 emphasises in examining religious tenets through scientific and intellectual processes. Kundkund points out telling the self-realised truth with a caution to scholars to rectify it if found inconsistent. Samantbhadra and Siddhsen Diwakar, Hemchandra and Ashadhar have also carried out the same message through ages defining the criteria for true scriptures as consistent perceptionally and inferentially, irrefutable, accurate and un-ambiguous. They wish every votary should be wise and intelligent. This examination-based ontology of Jainism has been the sole factor for intense faith in and preservation of this system.
Besides fostering this outlook, Dixit" has recently added a new dimension of historical perspective for learning the development of various concepts of this system some of which he has illustrated.
With Jaina seers advocating the examination-based outlook, how can one expect Jainism as unscientific? That is why modern schoiars have examined Jaina principles in scientific way and language and confirmed this system not simply a religion but a holistic science giving us a unified scientific basis for the whole cosmos 6. Its principles could be re-interpreted in terms of modern science, mostly qualitatively, of course but sometimes even going beyond it without conflict and adding to knowledge. We will give here only some features implying Jinistic scientificity (They relate mostly with material world).
Depending on the nature of the object, it could be examined subjectively by intuition or self-realisation or objectively through logistics and intelligence. Siddhsem has elaborated this point and suggested that a small number of objects may be learnt through scriptures or extrasensory experience. However, there has been a period that they got prominence. This trend effected the scientific outlook of the votaries and religion got off the royal intellectural path. (ii) Theory of Knowledge: Theory of Manifold Predications (Syadvad)
Jaina seers have always tried to study, an object with reference to its manifold aspects. Their overall number now turns out to be more than 13040. One can imagine the complex character of such a system which can not be studied by the scientists even. Also during aspectwise studies, one could have sometimes seemingly contradictory statements to be made about an object such as a man is father, uncle, husband, brother and so on. This fact could be explained on the basis of relationships with different aspects (son,cousin, wife, brother etc.). Each of the relationships is, thus, relatively true. Any object, thus, is cumulatively relative and it can not he described really as a whole through our language. Hence what one