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Virchand Raghavaji Gandhi : Assessment of a Jaina ... : 93
attacks on Hinduism and Buddhism, he observed: 'If you will only permit a heathen to deliver his message of peace and love, I shall only ask you to look at the multifarious ideas presented to you in a liberal spirit and not with superstition and bigotry, as the seven blind men did in the elephant story.” As per the said story the blind men had touched the different parts of an elephant's body and quarreled among themselves about its shape, size and features. He thus tried to establish that truth has various dimensions; religions are divided by ignorance and bigotry, and the good in all faiths need to be recognized. Jaina Contribution
After the Chicago Parliament , VR Gandhi went on lecture tour in different parts of America and England on invitation, visiting India in between. In his various discourses and writings, he explained how Jainism has enriched various disciplines like philosophy, religion, literature and arts.
The Jaina contribution to the domain of metaphysics includes its concept of the self existent and timeless Reality; its bheda-abheda doctrine which recognizes both different (bheda) and identical (abheda) perspectives, its nine categories namely, jīva (living being or soul), ajīva (non-living being), punya (good deeds), pāpa (evil deeds), āśrava (influx of karma), bandha (bondage of karma), saṁvara (stoppage of inflow of karma), nirjarā (eradication of karmic matter) and mokșa (salvation); its six-fold division of dravyas (substances) namely jīva(soul), pudgala(matter), dharma (principle of motion), adharma (principle of rest), ākāśa (space) ( together called pañcāstikāya) and kāla (time); its four-fold division of souls - deva (gods), jivas (living beings), tiryaks (lower animals) and the vegetable kingdom and narakas (lower region) - all subject to the law of karma, and so on.
The atomic theory of Jainism which propounds that an atom (paramāņu) is indivisible and indestructible and has colour, flavor
