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Jain Theism One of the aims of life is to make the earth, if not heaven at least, a better and worthier world, Syādvāda in spite of "its dry dialectic and forbidding use of logic is not without a lesson for the practical men of the world.
"The Jain conception of the dynamic constitution of reality and the-eternity of existence may be applied in the various fields of human activity to ensure our progress towards the "Summum Bonum”, which is the goal of our destiny."76 Syādvāda thus helps in understanding the nature of reals through experience which is the very first step of any progresssive theism.
Pt. Dalsukhbhai Malvania, an authority on Jainism in one of his essays on Anekāntavāda explains that the most of Anekāntavāda is. Ahimsā and that is the prime reason that Jain philosophy is based on Anekāntavāda. The very idea of not to hurt the others but to be kind sympathetic towards others' views and thus to be friendly, is the logical outcome of Ahimsā. Ahimsā in its positive concept becomes love and compassion. A perfect theism, not in its narrow rigid sense, but in the sense where broad religiousness, deep spirituality and high knowledge are thought of for the soul's ultimate libreration from the bondage, required syādavāda as its valid approach to have an objective vision of truth, to be tolerant, to be synthetic and to have an attitude of impartiality, without all these no theism in its actual practice is possible. Syadvāda shapes a personality into a theistic one.
After all, "all that we are is the restult of our own thought' said Lord Mahāvira and what we think as well as how we think refers to our biliefs and experiences. In the light of their great truth Syādvāda has tremendous implication on moral and spritual aspects of life. And at the end, in the words of Sri P. S. Jaini, "the Jain with his teaching of Anekanta and its corollaries, Nayavāda and Syādvāda, escapes the doctrinal necessity of having to follow a single restricted path. All paths can be seen as valid in some respect: thus a Jaina is able to co-ordinate (Samuccaya) various methods into his path of purification (Moksa Mārga) which is defined as a combination of insight (Darśana) into the nature of reality (along with faith in this view), critical knowledge (Jñāna) as outlined in the scripture, and pure conduct (cāritra). This for the Jain, is the comprehensively valid path of salvation,"77
76 Dr. S. Mookerjee, The Jain Philosophy. of Non-Absolutism (1978) p. 48 77. P. S. Jaini, The Jain Path of Purification (1979) p. 97.
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