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Men and God
227
standing life and experience we have to see everything with reference to its i) substance (dravya), ii) nature (rūpa), iii) place (desa) and iv) time (kala). What is true of a thing in specific conditions at a specific time may not be true if it were in a different context, and to ignore this is to commit the fallacy of here-say. This is the spirit of Anekānta. It expresses a catholic outlook, the spirit of intellectual non-violence.
The conditions of society in the present-day world demand that we adopt such a catholic outlook or else we perish. We are in the midst of a life where hatred, injustice and intolerance reign supreme. A new orientation of values would be necessary for us to destory the inverted values and then ‘rebuild to our heart's desire'. What we need today is love and sympathy and not prejudice and pomp. We need understanding and a sense of fellowship between the peoples of the world. And Anekānta would give us a Weltanschaung' and a scientific interpretation of things. We will then learn to love our neighbours as ourselves. “And we can still cherish the hope when power becomes ashamed to occupy its throne" and, 'when the morning comes cleansing the bloodstained steps of the nation,"** we shall be called upon to bring the spirit of Anekānta to sweeten the purity of human destiny.
44. Tagore : Nationalim.
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