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The Philosophies of The Gnyåta Putra
305 that it is non-God though still it has faith in karma and rebirth and hence is not as atheistic as Carvakism.
The emphasis of Jaina teaching is on the purification of the individual through the practice of five great vows: ahimsa (non violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (celibacy) and aparigraha (non-attachment), called mahavratas, by the monks and the same five with slightly less rigour, called anuvratas, by the laity. The essential difference between the Jaina notion of ahimsa and that of the non-dualist Upanisads stems from the fact that while the former admits the real plurality of selves and establishes non-violence on the basis of the doctrine of their 'intrinsic equality', no matter whether these selves are earth-bodied, water-bodied, vegetable organisms, insects, birds or human beings, the Upanisadic notion establishes non-violence on the basis of their 'intrinsic identity' with the Absolute (Brahman). The Jaina notion of ahimsa is thus all-pervasive. The reason for this is so aptly described by Prof. Jacobi in the following words: "A characteristic dogma of the Jainas which pervades the whole philosophical system and code of morals, is the hylozoistic theory that not only animals and plants but also the smallest particles of the elements, earth, fire, water and wind, are endowed with souls."
Another contribution of the Jainas is the notion of the triratna, the 'three gems', samyakjnana (right knowledge), samyak darsana (right perception) and samyak caritra (right behaviour), which unlike the bhakti-marga of the Bhagavatas, thejnanamarga of the Vedantins and the karma-marga of the Mimansakas, have to be simultaneously pursued. Right knowledge is the knowledge of the fundamentals about soul, karma and liberation; right perception is an unshaking faith in the fundamentals; but right behaviour, which is about the most difficult in this world full of attachment, is to be attained through the practice of the five great vows. On the question of their sintáltaneous pursuit, the Jaina commentators use the analogy of medicine. A man suffering from a disease must have faith in the efficacy of the medicine, have knowledge of its use and must actually administer it to overcome the ailment.
One of the most controversial is the Jaina notion of anekanta, also called syadvada, which has been denounced from the days of Sankara or even earlier. According to Dr. Radhakrishnan,
