________________
00
भ० महावीर स्मृति-ग्रंथ।
and the like. It means a statement which gives a due place to all the viena points including those of the opponents and rivals and which though, in a way one-sided ( as it comes within its own range and recoils on itself) 18 allembracing
This doctrine of the Fainas clearly enunciated and fully resorted to by their Tirthankaras is unlimited in sphere, for, not only an epistemological discus8100 but even a metaphysical question and an ethical one, too, come within its domain It is the fundamental theorem of the 2017 syāya, and it has nayapada and saptablangi as its corrolartes. It is the master-key of opening the heart-locks of different religions It is the main fountain of temporal and spiritual progress. It is the theory of cumulative truth. Such being the case, if anekāntavāda is properly understood, preached and sincerely practised, it will solve a number of our present-day problems without falling a prey to adopting a policy of telling half truths which are more dangerous than naked falsehood For anekāntavāda warns us to guard ourselves from making one-sided statements and regarding them as absolutely true. This anekantavāda is not scepticism-not even pragmatism. It gives a definite answer-only one answer, when the standpoint is specifically mentioned, and it thus never leaves us in doubt about the nature of any object or problem.
Ansköntvāda is alsmed in speech, and as such it forms a part and parcel of the noble and ennobling doctrine of alımsä So I shall now say a few, words about ahimsa
Lord Pāršva ( 877 B C - 777 B. c ), the 23rd Tirthankara of the Jainas, propounded the four yāmas and Lord Mahavira, the last ( 24th ) Tirthankara who flourished in India in this present Hunda-avagarpin-cycle of time, said the same thing when he enunciated the five mahauralas (great yous) viz. abstention from ( a ) hemsi, (b) untruth, (c) stealth, (d) non-celibacy and pe) possession ( parigraha)
The doctrine of ahimsa has been known and practised in India at least for the last 35,00 years, and it has been the very life-breadth 'for the Fainas, for it permeates all walks and modes of life of even the Jaina faity. Complete cessation from himsā 18 prescribed for the fama clergy by their Tirthankaras not with a view to furnishing them with an ideal for an ideal sake but with the full understanding that this highest ideal can be so realised in the final and highest stage of their life.
Amongst all the vow, small or great, alnmsä holds the foremost place, for, it 18 like a field, and the rest of the vows are like hedges to protect it.
1. See Sammaipayarana ( II, 21 )
2. For a detailed exposition of anekārtasida see my book The faina Religion and Literature ( Vol 1, pp 160-176 ) and my introduction (pp. CVIICXXI ) to Anekantajayapataka ( Vol II)
