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THE SPIRIT OF MAHẬVÎRA'S TEACHINGS*
-S. S. Raghavachar
It does credit to the traditions of Indian Culture that we are celebrating the 2500th Year of the Maha Nirvana of Lord Mahâvîra. In doing so we pay our homage to the immortal message that he bequeathed to humanity in that distant past and it is to be hoped that the recollection will somewhat penetrate to our truth-starved lives and add to the possibility of our eventual emancipation.
The fundamental spirit or genius of Jainism which Mahâvîra repromulgated, augmenting it with the riches of his own personality and enlightenment, may be broadly characterized as the gospel of comprehension or enlargement. The logic of this gospel enters into every sphere of Jaina philosophy and Religion. It is a worthy endeavour to trace the working of the principle of comprehension in the various fields of its application.
A philosophy draws its vitaliy from its critique of human understanding. In this field of epistemology Jainism has advanced certain basic tenets. It is one of the chronic maladies of the human intellect that it invests a fragment of truth in its possession with absoluteness. Hence the interminable warfare of faiths and systems of philosophy. The signal service of Jaina thought is that it enunciates the method of rectifying this fallacious propensity. It formulates its unique doctrine of Anekantavada, which stands for the due recognition of all stand points and approaches to reality.
*Vedanta Kesari, Vol. 63, No. 11, March 1977.
