Book Title: Outlines of Jainism
Author(s): S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi

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Page 157
________________ 148 JAINISM Vyavahāra Naya : (The Standpoint of the Particular) Unlike the sangraha naya the vyavahāra naya is concerned with the specific properties of an object without overlooking the fact that the specific qualities are not independently conceivable, i. e., without any reference at all to the generic qualities binding the various particulars. When for instance, we say "Reality as Substance possesses Existence and Modes” we have specific references to the nature of Substance itself. The point to be noted is that in the very act of specifying some properties possessed by Reality, Reality is implied as the substratum of the properties, i.e., the universal itself is not ignored when the particular is mentioned. The fallacy of vyavahāranayābhāsa is committed when there is the assertion of the empirical at the cost of the universal. According to the Jaina view the Cārvākas committed this fallacy when they dwelt too much on the empirical — in the name of believing only that knowledge which they got through the sense organs. The three nayas described above are a result of looking at the identity of things. In general, the three nayas are attempts at understanding the substance or dravya aspect of Reality. Hence they are referred to as dravyārthika nayas. The other four nayas yet to be described indicate the standpoints that are possible when we analyse Reality from the point of view of the modes possessed by it. Hence they are known as paryāyārthika nayas. Rjusūtra Naya : (The Standpoint of Momentariness) This standpoint considers only the present form of the object to be significant. It not merely does not consider the past and the future but considers that even the whole of the present is of no consequence. It extracts the mathematical present, the momentary state of existence of the object. The past is no more and the future is not yet and so, to refer to an object which is no longer present or is yet to come into existence is a sheer case of contradiction. We can be sure of only the present, the mathematical, the fleeting, the momentary present. The standpoint is illustrated by our treating an actor as a king on the stage when that role is played by him. To treat him as a king even outside the stage is not proper. The 'extraction of the present from the empirical, also termed Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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