Pravachansara

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 30

Pravacanasāra
regard to its substance (dravya), the soul is permanent (nitya) but with regard to its modes (paryāya), it is transient (kṣaṇika). The substance is thus known through infinite-standpoints (anantanaya). When the assertion is understood to have been made in absolute sense, without appreciation of the relativity of the point-of-view (naya), it becomes false (mithyā). When the same assertion is understood to have been made in relative sense, with appreciation of the relativity of the point-of-view (naya), it reveals the truth; it is valid-knowledge (pramāna). This is the beauty and the scope of the doctrine-of-non-absolutism (anekāntavāda), the root of the Holy Scripture. The soul is known variously through the standpoints (naya) and valid-knowledge (pramāņa). Both pramāņa and naya are forms of knowledge; pramāņa is sakaladeśa – comprehensive and absolute, and naya is vikaladeśa - partial and relative. A naya looks at the object from a particular point of view and presents the picture of it in relation to that view; the awareness of other aspects is in the background and not ignored. A synthesis of different standpoints is achieved by the doctrine of conditional predications (syādvāda) wherein every viewpoint is able to retain its relative importance. There is the affirmation or the negation or the indescribability or the combination of these three, depending on the point of view. Getting rid of the knots of delusion (moha) and through the practice of establishing the self in the self, the Pure Soul (suddhātmā) is attained. The soul is the accomplisher (sādhaka), the means (sādhana), and the accomplishment (sādhya).
Gratitude for Auspicious Blessings Ācārya Vidyānanda ( 3112ref faults) A true yogi, Ācārya Vidyānanda shuns all communication with external entities; his internal deliberations are rid of attachment and aversion, directed toward the pure soul. Born in 1925 and a digambara ascetic (nirgrantha muni) since last fifty-five years, today he sleeps in regard to worldly undertakings but is awake in regard to soul-realization. He meditates on the
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