Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Page 96

Kamla Jain, "Multi-dimensional Significance of Anekantavāda"
dimensional approach, perspective and vision of getting the job done with maximum output by various kinds of people with different aptitudes and potentials. Further, even for personal management and growth the anekāntika appraoch produces better results by sharpening one's analytical ability, objectivity, a sharp grasp of others and above all, an unbiased attitude with a sense of empathy and belongingness for others
Today, medical practitioners have begun to rely on an integrated approach in medicine rather than rigidly adhering to their particular school of medicine. Allopathic practitioners have started to recommend well-tested ayurvedic medicines which they think are less prone to side-effects. This expresses a synthesis of diverse approaches on the basis of 'complementarity' principle. This again is a reflection of anekāntika attitude.
Anekāntika outlook is not only good for our day-to-day life, but it also has a great intellectual appeal. Post-modernism and its related theory of post-structuralism widely used in literary criticism are of very recent origin. Post-modernism strongly contends that every field of ideas is a field of contending forces. Lyotard, a French philosopher succinctly puts it and says, “a postmodern condition refines our sensibility to differences and reinforces our ability to tolerate the incommensurable'. Postmodernism emphasizes that no representation can caputre the subject completely and that it is only a representation. There may be, in this thesis some kind of a tilt towards Buddhist view of momentariness or Rjusutra naya, but it definitely throws light on differences and tolerance of differences. This is the true anekantik approach of unity in diversity and diversity in unity. It is a matter of great intellectual satisfaction to see that the rich Jaina tradition could sow the seeds of post-modern thought.
Concept similar to anekānta can be seen in other religions and philosophies of the world. Take for instance the following: Isavasya Upanishad describes ātman as a substance which moves and does not move, which is near and far and which is inside and outside. Inspite of being absolutistic, Vedanta reflects relativism in its philosophy of explaining reality from three standpoints and
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