________________
Application of Anekantavāda in various Disciplines Utpala Modi
Anekantavada is the heart of Jaina metaphysics and Nayavāda and Syadvāda (or Saptabhangî) are its main arteries, or to use a happier metaphor, the bird of Anekāntavāda flies on its two wings of Nayavada and Syādvāda. The claim that Anekāntavāda is the most consistent form of realism lies in the fact that Jainism has allowed the principle of distinction to run its full course until it reaches its logical terminus, the theory of manifoldness of reality and knowledge.
In the theory of the Anekanta nature of reality the notion of manifoldness not merely presupposes the notion of manyness or pluralism, but also contains the activistic implication of reciprocity or interaction among the reals in the Universe.
A thing has innumerable number of characteristics. Every object possesses innumerable positive and negative characters. It is not possible for us ordinary people to know all of them. We know only some qualities of the substance. To know all the aspects of substance is to become Omniscient.
The epistemological and logical theory of the Jainas is called 'Syadvada'. Both Anekāntavāda and Syādvāda are the two aspects of the same teaching-realistic and relativistic pluralism. They are like the sides of the same coin.
The logical justification for the formulation of these two methods of Nayavāda and Syādvāda consists in the fact that the immense complexity of the relativistic universe is too baffling for the human mind, with its limited range of perceptual and other capacities
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
