Traverses on Less Trodden Path of Indian Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 14

Reconciliation of different philosophical view.points
in different pitchers. A pramāņa can be reached through aggregation of all the constituent stand-points. 14
Naya means the points of view which gives only partial truth about reality. 18A When we present oply one aspect of many-sided reality supressing others, then it falls under the nayavāda, the doctrine of view-points. Traditionally, the Jainas mention seven or six kinds of nayas, taking into account, the different philosophical views, prevalent in ancient India They are : naigama. sangraha, vyavahara, jusūtra, sabda, samabhirūdha and evambhūta. 10B Again these nayas are fundamentally divided into two main categories viz. dravyästika, according to which substance is the fundamental reality and the modifications are gothing apart from it and paryāyāstika, which states that, modifications are the only reality, the substance being nothing apart from them.18 The first one may be called, view.point of generality and the second one, the view-point of particularity. These different kinds of na yas or standpoints represent views of different schools of thought, which are partially true. Naigama naya recognises both the universal and the particular. Nyāya-Vaiseşikas are the followers of this naya because they recognise both the universal and the particular, in an isolated and non-relative sense, Samgraha na ya, unholds the universal only. Advaitins and Sankhyas, represent this na ya, because former merges all particulars in the universal, 'sar' and the latter to the cause praksti. Vyavahāra is a point of view of commonsense view, which does not penetrate below the surface of things. The Materialists (Carvāka) way of looking at things is that of vyavahāra. Rjusūtia refers to changing modes only and states that reality is always in constant flux, Buddhist view of kşanabhangavāda is a very good example of this naya. Sabdanaya accepts single object denoted by variants of synonymous terms. Samabhirūdha goes a step further and accepts different meanings or synonyms based on their etymology. Evambhūta takes the word signifying an object, which possesses the action, connoted by etymology. The Grammarians and the Mināmsakas represent the sabda and other nayas, because they emphasize the grammatical, etymological importance of words. 17 In this way, nayavada comprises views of all others. These views are right in 14 Tattvārtharājavārtika, 1-6, pp. 24-27. 15A ekadesavi'sisto artho nayas ya vișayomatah, Nyāyāvatara, 29, ed. P. L. Vaidya, Pub :
Jaina Svetambara Conference, Bombay, 1928, p. 64. 15B P.N.T., VII-7-33, pp. 514-528 and also See T.S. I-34. 16 Sanmatitarka, 1-7-21. 17 (a) S.M. XXVIII, 161-165. (b) Adhyatmasara, Jin zmatastuti, 6, ed. Muni Nemicandra, Pub Sri Nirgrantha
Sahitya Prakasan, Delhi, 1976, p. 429.