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JAINA PHILOSOPHY : AN INTRODUCTION
Moreover, all objects are interrelated. The individual form of an object cannot be established unless the knowledge of its inter-relations is assumed. When we speak of a human being, the relative knowledge of objects other than the human being springs up of itself. Similarly, when we speak of Europeans, the idea of non-Europeans springs up naturally. When we speak of Indians, the idea of non-Indians spontaneously springs up. The idea of virtue suggests the idea of vice and so on. Thus, the knowledge of one substance or object suggests the relative knowledge of other substances or objects. Lord Mahāvīra, keeping this in view, said that a man who knows only one object with all its properties, knows all objects. He who knows all things with all their properties, knows one thing. Thus, the Jaina philosopher advocates the doctrine of non-absolutism. Every judgment of a Jaina thinker bears the impression of non-absolutism in its heart. He makes no judgment that goes against the spirit of non-absolutism. Traces in the Canons :
The theory of non-absolutism is not an innovation of the later philosophers who propounded the sacred teachings of the Great Teacher Lord Mahāvīra. The Lord himself preached this philosophical doctrine and his later followers put it into a more systematic and logical form. While describing the nature of soul (jiva), Mahāvīra addressed Gautama : "O Gautama ! from one point of view, the soul is permanent; from another point of view, the soul is not permanent. From the view-point of substance, the soul is permanent; from the view-point of modes, the soul is not permanent."2
Lord Mahāvīra emphasised the identity of soul and knowledge from one stand-point. In the Acārānga-sūtra it is
1. Je egam jāņai se savvam jānui.
Je savvaṁ jänai se egaṁ jānai -- Acārānga-sūtra, I. 3.4. 122. 2. Goyama ! jīvā siya sāsavā sira usāsarā. Govama ! davvattha
vāe sāsavā bhāvauhavăe asāsavu Bhagavati-sútra, VII. 2. 273.
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