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Anekānta: Freedom from Hatreds and Violence
Chaturvedi Badrinath
There has been for centuries this philosophical puzzle created by the Cretan who declared: 'The'. In declaring that he was a liar, he was being truthful in being truthful that he was a liar, he was, on his own admission, lying. The greatest puzzle of all is the undeniable fact that we human beings seem to be together, and all alike, when we lie, but no sooner do we begin to speak of truth than we fly at each other's throat. This has been so in the past, it is so no less today. My truth is the truth. What you call truth is downright falsehood. Since I care for you, I will try first to persuade you to my truth. If you will not be persuaded, I will force my truth upon you, if I can; which will be for your good. If you resist, I will kill you, if I can; and that will be for your greatest good, for you will not be living then a life of untruth and falsehood. Much of history is a history. of this. Long ago, a man was asked whether he could say what was the most astonishing thing in the world? He answered by saying: “Seeing that people are dying everyday everywhere, everybody still thinks that death will not come to him. What can be more astonishing than that? I am grateful that the Jain Vishva Bharati University has set up this series of talks on anekānta, the Jain philosophy of the manysidedness of truth and reality. I feel honoured in being asked to participate in them, and express my gratefulness to Vice-chancellor Mrs. Sudhamahi Regunathan and to Chancellor Dr. L.M. Singhvi.
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