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NON-ABSOLUTISTIC ATTITUDE OF THE JAINAS
(CH.
the connecting bond of existence.' But again his mind is overwhelmed by doubts and he exclaims 'Who then knows, who has declared it here, from whence was born this creation? The gods came later than this creation, who then knows whence it arose? He from whom this creation arose, whether he made it or did not make it, the highest seer in the highest heaven, he forsooth knows, or does even he not know?'2 Doubt is the starting point of philosophy. Out of the fulness of the heart comes the assertion 'That One breathed by itself without breath' (änid avatar svadhayā tad ekam). But the human intellect is too weak to grasp the truth. It falls into the clutches of doubt in moments of weakness. The sage rejects the existent (sat) or the non-existent (asat) as the ultimate source of the universe and his heart finds solace in asserting 'That One' which 'breathed though breathless' (anid avātam). His deep spiritual experience manifests itself in self-contradictory expressions and points to the fact that the ultimate reality is inexpressible (anirvacaniya). In this famous hymn we can thus discern three distinct ways of speculation about creation viz. (1) that which bases it on existence (sat), (2) that which bases it on non-existence (asat), and (3) that which regards the ultimate source as inexpressible (anirvacanīya). Of these, the first two are rejected as untenable. The universe did not come out of what we call existent (sat) or what we call non-existent (asat), but out of 'The One' which cannot be expressed in words. How can something come out of the Nought? How can we believe that 'In the earliest age of the gods, the existent sprang from the non-existent'? Is it not, again, unmeaning to say that the existent came out of the existent? What then is the solution of the mystery of existence? This is the question that demanded solution from the seer. The answer comes forth from the depth of his heart though his mind still remains embarrassed.
The selfsame question arises in the mind of yet another sage who asks 'Who has seen the first-born, when he that had no bones bore him that has bones? Where is the life, the blood, the self of the universe? Who went to ask of any who knew?' He finds his questions answered in the realization 'The real is One, the learned call it by various names, Agni, Yama and Mātariśvan.'s
In the Upanisads we find these speculations in more concrete forms. Sometimes we find that Non-being (asat) was the source of
1 sato bandhum asati niravindan
hțdi pratīşyä kavayo manīşā.-Rgveda, X. 129. 4. 2 Ibid., X. 129. 6-7 as translated by Max Müller. 3 devānāṁ purvye yuge 'sataḥ sad ajāyata.—Ibid., X. 72. 2. • Ibid., I. 164. 4. 5 ekam sad viprā bahudhā vadanti
agnim yamam mātariśvānam āhuḥ-Rgueda, I. 164. 46.
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