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DR. N. M. KANSARA
SAMBODHI
"the culture of the strivers”, that is to say, the religious, philosophical and literary achievements of the Buddhists and the Jains.
Jaini's intellectual control over this area has meant that he has been able to adopt various styles of investigation. The fruitfulness of this style may be exemplified in brief. Thus, it is difficult to read far in Jain literature without encountering the terms bhavya and a-bhavya, which designate respectively those innately capable of advancing along the path of spiritual release and those innately destined to make no progress at all in this respect. Since this dichtomy implies acceptance of something akin to predestination, it is highly problematic for a religion which argues for the supposedly essentil equality of souls and their common ability to transform their status through effort, and Jaini seems to have been the first to draw attention to this. In his paper “Bhavyatva and A-bhavyatva: A Jaina Doctrine of Predestination', Jaini has explained these two categories by reference to the Buddhist Vasubandhu's Abhidharma-kośa-bhasya and the reconstructed teachings of the Ājivaka leader Mankhali Gosāla. This is a masterly demonstration of the sectarian modifications on the old sramana doctrine of predestination. N.M.K.
Jain Sagarmal and Pandey Shriprakash : Multi-dimensional Application of Anekantavāda, Pārsvanātha Vidyāpītha, Varanasi and Navin Institute of Selfdevelopment, Ahmedabad, 1999, pp. i-xlviii + 485, Rs.500/-.
This book is a compilation of the papers presented at the National Seminar on Anekantavāda, organized by Navin Institute of Self-development, Ahmedabad, in 1993. It also contains some of the selected essays on Anekantavāda out of different essays received for the Essay Competition on Anekantavāda organized by the same institution. These have been published by Pärśvanātha Vidyāpītha, Varanasi.
In his Foreword, Dr. Bhagchandra Jaina Bhaskar, the Professor and Director of the Pārsvanātha Vidyāpītha, Varanasi, has welcomed this book as an addition to the study of Jaina philosophy, since it deals with the utility of Anekāntavāda in the field of religion, philosophy, jurisprudence, personal management, environment, phenomenology, science, modern psychology, strategy for conflict resolution, mental peace, etc. Its both the sections in English and Hindi cover almost all the prominent issues connected with the theory of relativity. All the papers included in the book are valuable for understanding the Indian philosophical views and establishment of world peace.
