Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): Jyoti Prasad Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 87

THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
73
The sangraha-naya, relates to the objects of a class collectively; for example, the mention of the word 'real' connotes all the reals or substances that exist, the word 'man' all human beings, the word 'animal all the subhuman beings belonging to the animal kingdom, the word “jar' all types and kinds of jars, and so on. It is a collective, cumulative, or synthetic point of view.
The vyavahāra-naya, on the other hand, is the analytical or practical stand, dealing with the classes and subclasses, for instance to call a girl, a girl rather than a female, a human being, or a living being because all living beings are not human beings, all human beings are not females, and all females are not girls.
The rju-sūtra-naya is the direct and straight point of view, which does not take cognizance of the past or the future, but concerns itself only with the actually present, the things of the moment, or the ephemeral, momentary state of the thing. The śabda-naya or verbal point of view subordinates grammatical differences of inflexion, number, gender, case, etc., to the logical implication of the terms (words) used to connote an object. There may be several synonyms of a word, which although different in their roots, derivations, grammatical inflexions, etc., convey the same sense. For example, there are the words 'Indra' (the prosperous). 'Sakra' (the ruler), and ‘Purandara' (the victor of cities), which have different meanings, but are used synonymously to denote 'the king of gods'.
The samabhirūdha-naya has a narrower scope and adheres to the conventional meaning of a term. The word gau in Sanskrit has about a dozen different meanings, but by convention it has come to be usually applied for a 'cow'.
The evambhūta-naya represents or expresses in words the actual state of a thing in which it is at a particular moment, that is to call the king of gods' by the name Indra only when he is enjoying the pleasure, sakra only when he is issuing