Jaina View of Life

Author(s): T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Page 36

Approach to Reality
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Evambhūta Naya the least extent. Naigama deals with the real and the unreal, Samgraha with the real. Vyavahāra deals with part of the real. Rjusūtra refers to the present condition of the real, and Sabda only to the expression of the real. Samabhirūdha has a reference to the particular expression. Evambhūta applies to the present activity.
IV. Syadvāda is the logical expression of the Nayavāda. The various points of view from which the reality can be looked at give the possibility of a comprehensive view of reality. Such a view needs expression for the sake of clarity and communication. This has been possible by means of sevenfold predication. It is called Saptabhargi, because of its sevenfold predication. It is the formulation of the doctrine of the possibility of apparent contradiction in a real whole. The real may as well contain contradictions without affecting the nature of the real, because the contradictions arise only because we take partial views of reality. According to the Jainas, other Darsanas present only the gleams of the broken light, while the Jaina view visualises the whole truth in its different aspects. Nayavāda and Syādvāda are varieties of Anekantavāda. Syādvada is complementary to the Nayavāda. Nayavāda is analytic in character and Syädvāda is synthetic. It investigates the various shades of the truth given by a Naya and integrates them into a consistent comprehensive synthesis. Dasgupta suggests that the relation between them expresses the many alternatives indicated by the Syādvāda for any and every Naya.*1 In the Syadvada all the aspects of truth are woven together into the synthesis of the conditioned dialectic.
Some have raised a controversy as to whether Syādyāda is synonymous of Saptabhangi or of the entire Jaina philosophy. It is true that Syādvāda has an important place in Jaina philosophy, but it cannot be equated with the entire Jaina philosphy. Prabhācandra states that Syadvāda is synonymous
21. Dasgupta (S): History of Indian Philosophy, 1921, Vol. I, p.181.