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Śvetambara Scholars on Kundakunda: An Appraisal : 101
niscaya, if one has to lead a peaceful, pure and successful life, its secret formula (sütra) is proper balance (santulana) between niscaya and vyavahara. The problem is .we are quite familiar with the world of Vyavahāra and we are completely unfamiliar with the world of niscaya....The message is only this: in the world of Vyavahāra, let niscaya not disappear; we remain established in niscaya and live life of vyavahara; the consciousness should not get stuck in material objects but realise the truth beyond matter.
53
If one is to believe in Svetambara canons, Lord Mahāvīra is said to have made use of niscaya and vyavahāra viewpoints with a view to reconcile the contradictory statements. When Gautama asked him about the colour, smell, taste and touch of raw sugar (gur), Mahavira replied that from vyavahara point of view, it is said to be sweet. But from the niscaya standpoint, it has five colours, two smells, five tastes and eight touches. Asked about a large black bee (bhramara), he replied that from vyavahara point of view, it is black, but from the niscaya stand-point, it has five colours, two smells, five tastes and eight touches. In the same way, he is said to have analyzed many issues from vyavahāra-naya and niscaya-naya.54
From what is stated above, it appears that Kundakunda may not be the original propounder of the internal, self-referential niscayanaya and external, other-referential vyavahara-naya in the ethicospiritual context. However, there is not the least doubt that not only the systematic exposition and the profound implications of the ethicospiritual viewpoints of vyavahāra-naya and niscaya-naya, as well as their application on such a wide scale and extent in the ethico-spiritual perspective as we find in Kundakunda's works, has never been known or heard before and after in any of the Svetambara and Digambara Jaina scriptures as also the scriptures of other philosophical systems. Reference
1.
See Jagdish Prasad Jain, Salvation through Self-Discipline: Niyamasära of Kundakunda (New Delhi: Radiant Publishers, 2005), Introduction, pp. 130-147. For detailed discussion in this regard, his different names, biography, spiritual
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