New Dimensions in Jaina Logic

Author(s): Mahaprajna Acharya, Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Today and Tommorrow Printers and Publishers

Page 60

IV
The Doctrine of Nayas: Infinity of Modes and Approaches: The Synthetic and Analytic View point
Existence is a generic attribute of a substance. There is no substance which is not existent. From the attribute of existence the non-dualistic nature of a substance follows. The consummation of such non-dualism is pure existence or absolute existence. From the standpoint of such existence the nature of the universe would find expression in such proposition as-the universe is one because existence is an all-pervading feature of it.2
This non-dualistic approach to reality is the viewpoint called synthetic (samgraha naya). The propounders of non-absolutism have attempted at reconciling the thoughts of the systems like Vedanta and the Samkhya. But this does not mean that they borrowed this non-dualistic or generic viewpoint from the Vedanta or the Samkhya systems. On the contrary, they have made a critical estimate of the systems that believed in absolutistic non-dualism. The ultimacy of the universal (existence) and the unreality of the particulars is a pseudo-synthetic viewpoint. The universe can be a unity viewed as existence, but there are attributes other than existence in a substance. Particularity is one such attribute of the substance. Viewed from this attribute of particularity the universe would appear a dualism of existence (universal and particular). The real (satta) has two facets, viz. substance and the modes or the universal (samanya) and the particular (viseṣa).3
The universal is an attribute of the substance. The experience based on such universal supports non-duality. The particular is also an attribute of the substance. The experience based on such particular supports dualism. In fact, the variety of experience is attested by the corresponding variety of the attributes. This is the reason why any system of thought based on any particular attribute of the real can be accepted on the basis of various particular standpoints. A real presents itself in a number of ways depending on the knower's interest, inclination. and aesthetic as well as moral