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Multi-dimensional Application of Anekāntavāda
Anekantāvāda -Meaning:
manyness of
Dasgupta explains the word Anekantaväda as "relative pluralism" and by Radhakrishnan as "the doctrine of the reality" and "the doctrine of non-absolutism" by Pt. Shukhlalji. Pt. Sukhlalji rightly observes that -
"Not only Jainas even discriminative non-Jains know the Jaina philosophy and the Jaina sect as non-absolutist philosophy or as non-absolutist faith. For Jainas this belief in non-absolutism has a place of pride in their faith and they have claimed that the doctrine is the great, liberal and excellent
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It is a method of thought and analysis. It is mental eye that is open from all directions and all sides. We will understand it, first of all, by means of a simple example from life.
Take the example of woman say around 30. How do different persons view her? She is only a beautiful woman to a passer-by, a woman to a Sadhu. But she is wife to her husband, mother to her children, sister to her brother and sisters, daughter to her parents, a friend to her companions, an employee to her boss in the office where she serves, a good neighbour etc. We ask ourselves. If she has so many personalities, what is she in reality? We cannot deny any of the perspective of the women in question. Every view of hers is correct from one angle of vision. As Sukhlalji states -
"This partiality is based on the truth and that only. The life of this non-absolutism is not just an imagination; it is a doctrine proved by truth, it is philosophy and a subject of discriminative thinking. The life force of non-absolutism lies in this that it asks us to think with an open mind on its own self, just as it inspires us to think over and adopt other topics. The power and life of non-absolutism is open-mindedness, clarity and impartiality of thought."
There could be no better explanation or clear-cut analysis of the doctrine than this. Actually, with every vision apparently different, we come to touch upon reality one or other aspect of reality of the woman in question. With every different vision we come near the truth about her."
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