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1361
Jainism
Ācārya Haribhadra or Hemacandra in wbose blood this elixir is coursing, does not find fault with wrong beliefs or gods who have wrong beliefs. On account of this, we find that Ācārya Haribhadra does not consider Kapila belonging to non-Jain school of philosophy as inferior to the Tirthankaras of the Jainas and Ācārya Hemacandra, who sings a panegyric to a Tirthankara with devotion, does the same with equal, if not more, devotional fervour to Siva also who is not distinct or different for him from the Vitarāga, the non-attached. This attitude torn of catholicity is the very essence of this elixir called Anekānta.
To perceive unity amongst various gods is perhaps possible, suppose, if at least the people are broad-minded but to harmonize diverse conflicting notions is on no count easy. To say in one sweep that all philosophies together make the Jain Philosophy is easy but to actually unify them and to evolve the well-organized Jaina Philosophy there from is extremely difficult. It is not an easy job to discover the element of unity which inheres in and binds them all. It has been the cherished goal of the Jaina Ācāryas, who are prominent in the field of philosophy, to endeavour to envolve a possible logical synthesis out of the earlier and contemporary schools of thoughts and then to accord to them a proper place in the lofty palace of the Theory of Manifold Aspects (Anekānta). In doing this, their logical capacity and impartiality are fully put to a hard test because they have to ascertain what place is occupied by a particular school of thought in the whole frame-work of all Bharatiya philosophical systems, to assess their claim to a deserved position in the entire development of the philosophical thought, to find out the inevitable causes which gave rise to them, to evaluate their merits and demerits, to detect contradictions and antagonisms and to knit them all into one whole.
Without this it is not possible to allot a place to a non-Jain school of thought in this magnificent palace of Anekānta. A herculean effort to erect and build this attractive and majestic palace has been continually made during all these years beginning from Mahāvira till Upadhyāya Yasovijaya. We are, indeed, in a position to say that Jain Philosophy, absorbing and assimilating the rudiments of the philosophical systems of Bhārata, along with the individual growth of each of the systems, ultimately waves the banner of victory of those systems. A sincere study of Jaina Philosophy only, therefore, is able to present before the readers a living historical picture of the rise and growth of all the systems of Bhārata. (3) Synthesis of various schools according to the Theory of
Manifold Aspects. After having thought this much about the Theory of Manifold
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