Anekantavada/Jainism
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Anekantavada/Jainism
All Reality Is Relative
Pranav Khullar
Ahimsa, the most important tenet in Jainism, explores the psychological intent to hurt and harm another and turns the focus inward from an actual act of violence to the intentionality of the act. Ahimsa is seen as the abjuring of violent and hurtful thoughts for another, possible only when we realise the relevance of ‘parasparopagraho jivanam’ – the concept of interdependence. All life is inextricably connected and ahimsa is nothing but expression and mindfulness of natural empathy for another.
Ahimsa, an ethical principle, is rooted in the Jaina metaphysics of anekantavada which details the many-sidedness or anekanta of reality; that no single point of view can be construed as being the whole truth. The story of the five blind men who gave their own perspective of the elephant is a good example of the way we tend to see one or two aspects of anything and perhaps jump to the conclusion that what we perceive to be is the whole truth, whereas it is not the only truth. There could be as many versions of the truth as there are those trying to comprehend it.
The philosophical concept of anekantavada is further elaborated upon in the abstruse logic of ‘saptabhanginaya’ – the doctrine of seven conditioned predications, wherein each statement is expressed from seven different relative points of view, and each view is prefixed by a "maybe" or "relatively" (syad), so perhaps a thing is real, and perhaps it isn't, in relative terms, and it could be both real and unreal. Similarly, something could be indescribable, maybe real but indescribable. This dialectic of the relativity of knowledge, popularly known as syadvad, rules out any categorical or absolutist pronouncement, and shows how each judgement can effectively be only relative and conditional. Syadvad dissects the empirical world psychologically, and in so doing, seeks to reveal the relativity of the mind itself.
This theory of dealing with partial truths is also the philosophical basis for ethical living with the principle of ahimsa, for it prepares the ground for acceptance and respect of opposing views. This would help introspection of one's own claims and enable respecting varied opinions.
Anekantavada is positioned midway between the Vedantic assertion of Brahmn as Absolute and the Buddhist postulation of 'change as permanent' and offers its own pragmatic blueprint for a more peaceful existence, where all views are accommodated out of the belief that all minds are relatively conditioned, and are actually interdependent. But this analysis of the empirical world is also ironically meant to be a call to the path of renunciation, after having understood the unreal and relative nature of things, and who, through right conduct, right faith and right reflection, has progressively detached himself from externalities and is now ready to follow and attain the ‘Mahavira state of mind’ – "where karmic matter has thinned out and the soul expands to be one with the cosmos’’.
Anekantavada is the cornerstone of Jaina thought, the metaphysics of which defines the Jaina ethical way of living with compassion through the five anuvratas laid down for the shraviks or laypersons. The five anuvratas are: ahimsa, satya, asteya or non-stealing, brahmacharya or celibacy and aparigraha or non-possession. It then provides, in rare cases, the trigger to pursue the Jaina ideal of renunciation – Kaivalya-Jnana – possible by living the ascetic life of a sramana. This was how Mahavira set out in search of the real nature of reality, to explore what lay beyond the contours of the conditioned mind.
Humanitarian in essence
The Times of India Apr 10 2015
Pranav Khullar
Jaina Philosophy Is Humanitarian In Essence
The fundamental issue of liberation from human bondage is deconstructed in Jaina thought, through a detailed analysis of the nature of reality and the notion of karma.In its unique assertion that the soul itself is a material cause of drawing a veil over its real nature, the Jaina tradition shifts the onus from external causes and influences to pinning responsibility on oneself for one's salvation the soul itself has the capability to become free also. The interplay between the structure of the soul and the processes of karma is itself rooted in the dynamics of anekantavada, a metaphysical dissection of the empirical world.
Many sides to reality
In detailing anekanta or the manysidedness of reality , and positing that no single point of view can be construed as the whole truth since empirical knowledge is limited and relative to the perspective from which it is seen or known the Jaina was emphasising the similarity of the soul-condition of each soul. That is, we may be unique, but we are all the same also.
This metaphysic is further elaborated upon in the abstruse logic of `saptabhanginaya' the doctrine of seven conditioned predications, wherein each statement is expressed from seven different relative points of view, and each view is prefixed by a `maybe' or `relatively' (syad), so maybe (relatively) a thing is real, or unreal; perhaps it is both real and unreal. On the other hand it might be indescribable and so on. This dialectic of the relativity of knowledge, popularly known as syadvad, rules out any categorical or absolutist pronouncements and shows how each judgment can effec tively be only relative and conditional.Syadvad dissects the empirical world psychologically and in doing so seeks to show the relativity of the mind itself.
The absolute and the relative
Jaina thought is positioned midway between the vedantic assertion of Brahmn as Absolute and the Buddhist postulation of `Change as permanent' and throws up a pragmatic blueprint for a more peaceful existence, where all views are accommodated out of the belief that all minds are relatively condi tioned, and are actually inter dependent. Anekantavada says that all perspectives of reality are uniquely true from the knower's own feel of reality; yet no single view can be con strued as complete or whole.
This theory of partial truths becomes the philosophical basis for ethical living, through the principle of ahimsa, for the metaphysic lays the ground for acceptance and respect for opposing views. The Jaina sees this as possible only in the realisation of `parasparopagraho jivanam' or interdependence, that all life and beings are inextricably bound with each other, and ahimsa thereby becomes a natural empathy for another being rather than just an outer sympathy . This idiom shaped Gandhiji's own notion of non-violence in the modern era.
The metaphysics of anekantavada provides the key to an understanding of the world of Mahavira the multiplicity of the world is to be resolved through the emphasis on an ethical way of living, of compassion through the five anuvratas laid down for the shraviks (laypersons), ahimsa, satya, asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya and aparigraha (non-possession).
The metaphysics of anekantavada then provides, in rare cases, the trigger to pursue the Jaina renunciate ideal of kaivalya-jnana, just as Mahavira ventured forth, in search of the real nature of reality beyond the conditioned mind. The state of arhat or enlightenment is open for those who have first understood the nature of reality .
