Jaina Perspective in Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Ramjee Singh
Publisher: Parshwanath Shodhpith Varanasi

Page 86

Non-absolutism and Omniscience
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make an unity in any sense of the term.”l So far we know or can know, the making of truth and making of reality is one. Reality like truth is therefore definite-indefinite ( anekanta ), Its indefiniteness follows from the inexhaustible reserve of objective reality and its definiteness comes from the fact that it grows up into the reality of our own knowing which we make.
So we can fairly conclude that in Jainism, non-absolutism is not only a metaphysical but also an epistemological concept. There is no absolute reality, so there is no absolute truth.
Jainas believe that “when there is isolation and obstruction, there is everywhere, so far as the abstraction forgots itself unreality and error." (3) Distinction between Syadrada and Sarvajñata
Syadvāda is not the final truth. It is merely an attitude of knowledge. In fact, it simply helps us in arriving at the ultimate truth. Syadvāda works or can work only in our practical life and it is therefore that the Jainas regard it as
1. Bhattacharya, H. M.: His article on *The Jaina Concept of
Truth and Reality' in the Philosophical Quarterly, Cal
cutta, Vol. III, No. 3, October 1927, p. 213. 2. Bradley, F. H. : Essays on Truth & Reality, Oxford Uni
versity Press, 1914, p. 487; Bradley F. H. : Appcorace & Reality, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 9th imp., 1951, “There is truth in every idea, howsoever false...... Reality is now this; now that; in this sense it is full of negative, contradictions and oppositions.” Holmes, E. : The Quest of Ideal, p. 21. “It would be nonsense to say that every movement is either swift or slow. It would be nearer the truth to say that every movement is both swift and slow..." Hegal, G. W. F.: A History of Philosophy, p. 465. "Contradiction is the root of all life and movement, that everything is contradiction..."