Pravachanasara

Author(s): A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram

Page 118

Introduction
when he calls Syädvåda 'as the next positive step'. The logical development of anirvacaniyata-väda, if it is to be conceived irrespective of the dogmatical moorings of one system or the other, would be pure agnosticism; or by making some concession to the dogmas, it will come to something nearer the Sünyaväda or Vijñānavada of Buddhism, of which, as Dr. Dasgupta says, partial traces can be seen in Vedanta.
SYADVADA AND RELATIVITY.-Half a century before, Darwin's evolution was a conjuring word with us, and today it is Einstein's relativity. The postulates of physicist and philosopher are all upset today by the theory of relativity. It is mainly the theory of physicist; but here we are concerned only with its philosophical bearing. As compared with relativity Syadvada is much simpler and less elaborate, and the reasons are quite apparent; the bounds of human knowledge have become much more wide and the achievements of science more fruitful than what they were some centuries before. The contribution of Syädväda and Relativity to the ultimate outlook on life and its problems, taking into consideration the conditions under which and the age in which they are propounded, is almost the same. To the Syädvädin the existence is a huge complexity; human mind cannot adequately apprehend it, nor can the human speech properly express the same. such absolute and categorical statements are out of court; and all statements are true so far our particular point of view is concerned. This inadequacy of human understanding has led the Syadvadin to the doctrine of omniscience. To the relativist all our terms of expression like right and left, fore and aft, east and west, up and down, high and low, dear and cheap, and many others are relative; they are not the same for all the observers and under all the conditions; so they are not absolute, but merely relative to something. Some idealistic relativists have actually said that we all live in a queer world of ignorance, and there is no mode of testing. Time, velocity, even matter in view of the electrical theory-everything is relative. The other results of relativism are equally startling. As Eddington says, "the theory of relativity has unified the great laws which by their position hold a proud place in knowledge, and yet this by itself is only an empty shell. The reality is in our own consciousness'. Syadvadin is not such a subjectivist; according to him complete knowledge belongs to the omniscient being who cannot have any place in experimental sciences; for him reality exists outside the perceiver as well; but the percipient is too weak to perceive everything irrespective of spatial and temporal limitations, and hence his statements are true relatively, only in particular context. The position of Syädvädin, as distinguished from that of a full-blown relativist, can be thus expressed in the very words of Sir Oliver Lodge "Objective reality exists, but it is we who interpret it. The universe is incapable of being comprehended by any finite being, it must be interpreted; and the way we interpret it depends on ourselves and on our faculties". [p. 90:] The religious dogma of a Syädvädin goes a step further and accepts an omniscient being; but Sir Oliver Lodge says, 'How God perceives it, or what it is in ultimate reality, we do not know'.1
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SYADVADA AND MODERN PHILOSOPHY.-The aim of Syādvada happily corresponds with the scope of philosophy in modern thought.
Syadvāda aims to unify,
1 Sir Oliver Lodge: Relativity p. 39 etc.