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Theory of Manifold Aspects
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and from the point of view of Vyavahāra the Non-absolute also has a place because both the view-points are true according to Jainism.
Shri Aravinda's Synthesis.
In the philosophy of Aravinda, one supreme element is postulated and it is said that it is indescribable. However, if a need arises to describe it, it can be described as Sat, Cit, Ananda taken collectively. According to Shri Aravinda, the animate and the inanimate worlds originate from this Supreme element. In other words, there is no antagonism between the two worlds inhering together in one and the same Element. Like Sankara, Aravinda does not take the inanimate world as illusionary. According to him, when the Supreme Element in its form of Energy lies dormant, it is named as the inanimate and when it begins evolving, Energy becomes active and goes on perfecting. The external world also is real, according to Shri Aravinda. According to Janisim also, there is only one Sat, though it has two forms, namely, the animate and the inanimate. What is this, if not the acceptance of the Theory of Manifold Aspects (Anekanta) of the Jainas, by Shri Aravinda?
Anekantavāda in the Buddhist and other systems.
The Acaryas, such as Dharmakirti and Śantarakşita, the firm followers of Buddha, have denounced Anekantavāda as having contradictory elements, while Buddha himself who was Vibhajyavādi (divisionist), ruled out one sidedness and designated Buddhism, preached and taught by him, as a middle way (Madhyama Marga), It is true that Buddha has described every thing as momentary. But, at the same time, Dharmakirti and Śantarakṣita fit in the theory of rebirth with the eternal nature of the flow of momentariness. Thus, while rejecting the Jainas' theory of Manifold Aspects, the Buddhas accept it also indirectly.
While stating that the principles and tenets of the Jainas and Bauddhas such as non-injury etc. are good, Bhatta Kumarila compares them with the water held in the bucket of leather and as such brands it as unusable because those principles emanate from the mouths of those who are hostile to the Vedas. The same Bhaṭṭa Kumarila, when he thinks about a thing, specially about soul, takes recourse to the principle of Identity and Difference which is so to say a corollary of Anekantavada of the Jainas in a way and thus establishes the eternal and transitory nature of a thing on the basis of Dravya and Paryaya respectively.
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