________________
144 ]
The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
social laws, but it is not sin if violence is required to be committed in performance of moral or social duties ( Asti-nosti ).
(iv) It is not possible to say whether violence is sin or virtue without knowing the circumstances under which it is required to be committed (Avaktavya ).
(v) Violence is indeed sinful but no such statement can be made for all time and under all circumstances (Asti-ava. ktavya ).
(vi) Violence is not sinful under certain circumstances, but no positive statement of this type can be made for all times and under all circumstances ( Nasti-avaktavya ).
(vii) Violence is sinful, but there are circumstances where it is not so. Infact no statement in affirmation or negation can be made for all time and all circumstances (Asti-nastiavaktavya ).
All these seven modes can be expressed with regard to every proposition. The Jaina philosophers have applied them with reference to self, its eternality, non-eternality, identity and character. In fact this approach of Anekanta permeates almost every doctrine which is basic to Jaina philosophy. S. Gopalan? quotes Eliot in this connection, as saying :
“The essence of the doctrine ( of Syadváda ), so far as one can disentangle it from scholastic terminology, seems just, for it amounts to this, that as to matters of experience it is impossible to formulate the whole and the complete truth, and as to matters which transcend experience, language is inadequate.”
At no time in the history of mankind, this principle of Syadváda (Anekinta ) was more necessary than in the present.
1. Outlines of Jainism, p. 156.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
