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RELEVANCE OF ANEKANTA TO THE
MODERN TIMES
Anil Dhar
Religion & philosophy have been with us--mankind since times immemorial. This world has had different religions & philosophies, during the course of development. Religion gives ethics, morality, and philosophy together with logic and reasoning.
In India, we have seen the rise and development of Vedic, Jain & Buddhist religions and their allied philosophies, in a complementary co-existing state of simultaneous existence. Indian schools of philosophy are broadly divided into 2 schools of thoughts :
(i) Vedic & (ii) Non-Vedic.
Vedic Philosophy is further divided into 6 schools viz. (a) Sān. khya (1) Yoga (c) Nyāya (d) Vaiseşik a (e) Mimāns & (f) Vedanta, and three non-Vedic philosophies are Jain, Buddha and Chārvāka. All have their own characteristics. Similarly Jain philosophy has its own speciality i.c. Anekanta. Historical Background
Prior to Bhagavān Mabāvīra, it was a period of philosophic disputes. Sometimes it would touch illogical limits. Jain scriptures& Buddhist scriptures put the number of religious schools prevalent at that stage of time at 363 & 63 respectively.
Jain traditions have divided these 363 schools of Philosophy into 4 broad classes, i.e. 1. (Kriyāvādi)-Action-oriented-wbo considered the soul to be
the doer of actions and enjoyed its good and/or bad results. 2. (Akriyāvādi)-Non-Action-oriented--who considered the soul as
non-doer of action. 3. (Ajñānavādi)-Ignorance-oriented-who believed that knowledge
brings in disputes in its wake-so not to go in for theoretical/
philosophical discussions & considered ignorance to be bliss. 4. (Vipayavādi)-who would pay more attention to good moral bebaviour. 8
In this period of theoretical confusion, two great persons came on the scene-Bhagavān Mabāvīra & Mahatma Buddha Gautam Buddha was in favour of foregoing debates & discussions as a solution to rise above fanatic & fundamentalist perceptions. But this way
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