Pushkarmuni Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Devendramuni, A D Batra, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Rajasthankesari Adhyatmayogi Upadhyay Shree Pushkar Muni Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 802

Jainism: The Most Humanistic Religion
No aspect or point-of-view should be lost sight of. By overlooking certain aspects our understanding will be defective and our action based thereon will be faulty, if not harmful. There are many complex problems or questions in life and this doctrine of Nayavada cautions us not to reach final conclusions unless the problem or the question is analytically considered and evaluated by weighing the pros and cons of it. Religious truths and tenets ought to be examined from various angles; the truth behind each of them might be hidden and a superficial view might elude the truth.
६७
Anekanta, as the term implies, is the doctrine of many view-points, requiring an individual to have a harmonious view of things before he could get a perfect and comprehensive idea of truth or reality. This doctrine which is also known as Syadavada is subjected to severe criticism by some scholars. Some say that it is a doctrine of scepticism while some others say that it is beset with contradictions. It is obvious that analytical stand-points refer to partial truths and it is only their synthetic combination that will bring harmony into a coherent scheme of knowledge. The Jaina thinkers have illustrated this by a parable of seven blind men and an elephant. One blind man feels the legs and says that the elephant is like a pillar; the other feels its body and says that it is like a wall; the third feels its ear and says that is like a winnowing pan. Thus each one feels one organ, and considers that it represents the whole truth. To have a clear picture of an elephant, all the view-points must be harmonized to understand the whole elephant.
I do not desire to refer to seven predications which help us to have a full knowledge of an object. Every philosophical doctrine must be examined in the light of the basic principles of that religion or philosophical creed; this according to Hermann Jacobi, is the happy way leading out of the maze of ajnanwada or ignorance. Referring to this doctrine, Dr. Radhakrishnan says: All that the Jainas say is that everything is of a complex nature and identity in difference. The real comprehends and reconciles differences in itself. Attributes which are contradictory in the abstract co-exist in life and experience. The tree is moving in that its branches are moving but it is not moving because it is fixed in its place in the ground. The human mind cannot comprehend the complexities of existence fully nor can human speech express it adequately. Therefore all statements can be true only so far as they go, in so far as the speaker's viewpoints is concerned. It is the inadequacy of human understanding that renders the different points-of-view possible."*16
A simple illustration can be given about the personality of man. Let us take the case of a person who is a professor. He is a professor so far his students are concerned; to the management of his institution, he is an employee; to his wife he is her husband; to his son or daughter, he is the father; to his sister or brother, he is the brother; to his nephew, he is his uncle. In this way, any one position cannot be a complete description of a human being.
When applied to different philosophies in vogue, the doctrine arms us with a catholicity of understanding to convince us that truth is not anybody's monopoly with tarriff walls of denominational religions. This doctrine, therefore, inculcates in a votary of another religion a deep sense of tolerance which is a part of the another important part of Jaina doctrine, viz., ahimsa which is fundamental to that religion. The Anekanta doctrine is very essential for human understanding and progress. It propagates the right mode of approach and enables us to know the whole truth by logical reconciliation and ascertainments. It saves us from mental errors, religious bigotry and verbal disputes. Different seers have taken different points-of-view about the Universe and God. Some subscribe to nihilism, others to realism, some to monism, others to dualism, some to idealism, others to materialism, some to theism, others to atheism and so on. Jainism does not quarrel with any of them; it only explains by saying that these assertions contain limited truth and they are expressions of different views looked at the Reality
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