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INTRODUCTION.
The Parmatma Prakasha is a valuable work on Jainism from the Nishchaya point of view, which describes things from the standpoint of their natural or real properties, as distinguished from the incidents and attributes acquired or evolved out under the influence of matter in the course of evolution. The latter, that is to say, the acquired incidents, attributes, etc., fall under the jurisdiction of what is called the Vyavahara point of view, a separate department of knowledge in the comprehensive system of Thought called the Syad-Vada by the Jaina Acharyas (philosophers). The term Syad-Vada literally means many-sided, and indicates what may be called the relativity or non-Absolutism of knowledge. SyadVada, in this sense, inerely means the versatility of Thought. Thu special feature of Jainisin which distinguishes it from all other systems of philosophy is its non-rigidity or mauy-sidedness, hence comprehensiveness of survey in the field of consistent Thought. In plain language, Jainism is a science which studies things, not from one particular point of view alone to the exclusion of all other or others, but from every possible side, so as to have a perfect understanding of their nature. Obviously, no system of thought which is marked by the inelastic rigidity appertaining to Absolutism pure and simple can ever lead to satisfactory results, or be the means of spiritual or material progress of the soul, for its very one-sidedness is sure to present itself as an unsurmountable barrier to further progress when a given problem is approached from a standpoint of view different from the one on which its one-sided absolutism is founded. And not only is an ekantic (one-sided) systein imperfect and unsatisfactory in its philosophical aspect, it is also worse thau useless, even if not positively harmful, as a science, that is as a practical inethod of the realisation of our individual hopes and aspir For practicability is the test of all true sciences, whether intended for the spiritual or material advancement of Life's concerns, and where practicability itself is ignored it is idle to talk of the hypothetical benefits
