Some Jain Concepts and Conduct

Author(s): Sushma Singhvi
Publisher: B J Institute

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[Some Jain Concepts and Conduct
be noted here that the alternative answers to the divided issues are sometimes introduced in the Āgama by 'vi' meaning also and by the particle siya (skt, Syād) meaning in a certain reference'2. The expression siyavāya in the sutrakrtānga'also deserves mention: one should not explain anything without taking resort to siyavāya (skt. syādvāda, the principle of conditional prediction). It is obviously synonymous with the expression vibhajyavāya noted above and is the forerunner of the syädvāda of later times. It confirms that vibhajyavāda is the earliest phase of anekāntavāda. The Nayas
The nayas (stand points) constitute the second stage of the evolution of the concept of anekānta. The earliest and most important way of judging the nature of things was to consider them under four heads/points of view viz. dravya (substance), kşetra (space), kāla (time) and bhāva (mode). In the Bhagawati sūtra the loka (inhabited cosmos) is considered as finite in substance and space, but infinite in time and modes 4. There are also other heads such as guņa5, bhāva' and saṁsthāna!? which were analogous to bhāva. But all these heads were not called nayas. The expressions used in connection with the nayas were however dravya and paryāya (equivalent of bhāva). The material atoms are thus stated to be eternal qua dravya (davyatthayae) and non-eternal (qua paryāya pajjavehim!8 and the souls are characterized as eternal qua dravya (davvatthayae) and non-eternal qua bhāva (bhāvattayae)lo . Another pair of nayas viz avvocchitti naya (skt. avyucchitti naya, the stand point of non-interception) and vocchitti-naya (skt. vyucchitti naya, the stand point of interception) are also mentioned in the Bhagavati Sūtra'. Thus the infernal beings are eternal from the stand point of noninterception (of their existence as souls) but they are non-eternal from the standpoint of interception (of their present state of being infernal after the expiry of that form of existence). Brhadvrtti on