Reals on the Jaina Metaphysics

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Shatnidas Khetsy Charitable Trust Mumbai

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Introduction
THE VEDIC AND THE NON-VEDIC SYSTEMS
We venture to suggest that it is not even possible to establish with certainty, the chronological order between the Vedic systems on the one hand and the non-Vedic systems on the other. It is ordinarily believed that the Vedic systems are earlier than the non-Vedic. The Buddhistic religious tradition, however, is that the religion of the Buddha is eternal. Similarly, the sacred books of the Jainas assert that the doctrines of the Jina were prevalant from beginningless time and that the Vedic ritualism and systematic philosophical thoughts were but after-time corruptions. As a matter of fact in some of the earliest Upanişads, we actually come across heterodox lines of thought which foreshadow some of the essential doctrines of the Buddhistic and the Jaina philosophies. The chronological arrangement of the various theories as propounded by the rival schools of Indian thought is thus impracticable and nothing more than a comparative estimate can be done. This is what we shall attempt in these lectures.
THE JAINA PHILOSOPHY AS A COMPLETE SYSTEM, IN LINE WITH OTHER SYSTEMS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Thus when we say that the Jaina philosophy is a complete system having a respectable place within the systems of Indian thought, we mean that for every problem of Indian philosophy, the Jaina system has a solution of its own and for every matter, logical, ethical, epistemological or metaphysical, the Jaina thinkers have a theory peculiar to themselves. Yet, the Jaina doctrines relating to philosophical matters are not casual, vacillating or pedantic, but quite in a line with the similar doctrines of other contending Indian schools and as much logical as those. To every question under investigation, the Jaina philosophy offers a possible line of answer, as much plausible and reasonable as those offered by the other systems of Indian philosophy. We shall here very briefly indicate one or two instances, illustrating what we have said above about the mode of our treating the Jaina theories.