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Theory of Manifold Aspects
( 143 According to the first Śabdanaya of these Sabdanayas, the meaning of the word "Indra" is the same as that of the word “Sacipati'. There is no difference from the view.point of Paryāya, though there is one due to case and time. But Samabhirūdha is a "Sabda Naya' which accepts a difference in meaning on the ground of Paryāya also. In other words, according to Samabhirūdha, two words cannot have one and the same meaning. According to this, 'Indra' and 'Sacipati' are not the same because their etymologies are different- Evam bhūta Naya attempts to deduce the meaning even more minutely than the two mentioned before. According to it, one cannot use the word if it cannot convey the picture of the actual condition when the word is being used. As for example, the word "Gau". Its etymological sense is "motion'. Now we cannot use the word "Gau", according to the condition of the Evaņbhuta Naya, for the cow which is sitting but we can surely use it for the cow which is moving. Thus these Sabdanayas also put emphasis on the partial truths. Still, however, they all have a definite place in the Theory of Manifold Aspects (Anekānta). It does not repudiate the claim of any one of them. On the contrary, it admits its claim and assigns a proper place to all of them in its frame-work.
As we saw above, 'the Theory of Manifold Aspects (Theory of Anekānta), thus, accepts the claims of all of them and, as as matter of fact, it comprises all of them. Ācārya Jinabhadra's statement to the effect that Jaida Philosophy is an ocean in which all these rivers in the form of Nayas merge is thus proved correct.
In support of this “Theory of Manifold Aspects (Anekānta)” Jain Philosophy has evolved a special technique for explaining every behaviour
hrough seven modes to express each one of which the word 'Syāt is used, because it denotes that a thing is described from one particular point of view and is not an absolute statement but a relative one. It is because of this that the "Theory of Manifold Aspects (Anekanta)" is also called the “Theory of Relativity (Sāpekgavāda)".
(4) Refutation of the charges
Repadiation of the charge of uncertainty. . . It is improper and uncalled for that the philosophers of the nonJaina schools of thought have tried to invalidate, being urged by sectarian fanaticism, the Theory of Manifold Aspects (Anekānta) which is, as it is natural, useful in the vision of the philosophical and metaphysical truth. It does not add at all to the wide fame and great prestige of a philosopher of
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