YJA Convention 1996 07 San Francisco CA Second

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

Page 28

Anekantvada for spiritual progress
Anekantavada is one of the ethical precepts of Jainism, along with ahimsa, satya, brahmacharya, and asteya. These are nonviolence, truth, sexual purity, and nonstealing. These components of ethics are complementary and interconnected. We have seen that some people consider anekantvada to be an intellectual ahimsa. Anekantvada can be used in connection with aparigraha: making a donation may, in one sense, (as is commonly done) increase one's "good" karma. However, it may, in another sense, be paying off one's karmic debt, and thus no desire for future gain, karmic or material should happen. Remember the term vyavar, one of the nayas that was difficult to classify? Vyavara has also been used with the term niscaya by Kundakundacharya, a very important writer and monk in Jain history. These terms are important in talking about spiritual progress. Vyavara is the point of view based on external things. Ethics refers to a society. To be an ethical person you are good in relation to society. From the vyavara point of view, the three jewels of Jainism are samyak gnan, darshan and charitra: right knowledge, perception and action.
Niscaya, on the other hand, is the point of view based on the self. Niscaya dharma is with reference to the self. The niscaya three jewels are faith in the ultimate purity of the self, knowledge of the pure self, and identification with that ultimate self. I'm going to call ethics, vyavara dharma as morality. Niscaya dharma is what I will refer to as spirituality. Ethical nonviolence is to avoid violence to others. Spiritual nonviolence is to avoid violence to the self, which is the arising of attachment (raag) and aversion (dwesh) in a person. Ethical aparigraha may involve different ways of thinking about giving away excess material possessions. I described above ways of thinking of donation, either as producing greater good karma or future material prosperity or as paying off previous debts. Spiritual aparigraha refers to avoiding the accumulation of anything beyond one's most minimal needs, to cultivate and reinforce the contentment in one's spiritual nature.
These two nayas are not on equal footing. Vyavara is a necessary stepping stone to niscaya for most people. You have to be ethical before being spiritual, first cultivating your personality for spirituality in the realm of society. However, while vyavara is more practical, niscaya is more real and spirituality supersedes morality as the ultimate goal.
Spiritual progress has been charted out in the gunasthanas. In the early stages, one has to try hard to do moral behavior, and therefore vyavara dharma is helpful: that is right knowledge, perception and action. As one progresses, one becomes more and more identified with one's spirituality, which by nature, propels one to further bliss and spiritual progress. The process requires less and less struggle, because one has less and less impure impulses that create tension internally.
Let's look at anekantvada in relation to spiritual progress in another way. The proper perspective that you take in relation to an event depends on your spiritual stage, but also your role in the situation. Let's say there is a car accident. The person in Car A bumps the Person in Car B. The person in Car C is a bystander. Think for a minute about what would happen in our society. Now, let me propose to you, courtesy of
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