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Jiva

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MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA<br />

M.M.NINAN<br />

live within loka, in which they possess omniscience. This does not necessarily imply that<br />

there is “nothing” outside, but only that our knowledge, even if omniscient in loka, can<br />

not reach there.<br />

There are three Jain doctrines of relativity used for logic and reasoning. These are:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Anekāntavāda, the "doctrine of non-exclusivity or multiple viewpoints”<br />

syādvāda—the theory of conditioned predication and;<br />

nayavāda—the theory of partial standpoints.<br />

Anekāntavāda,<br />

Anekāntavāda, the "doctrine of non-exclusivity or multiple viewpoints” was proposed by<br />

Mahāvīra (599–527 BCE), the 24th Jain Tīrthankara. The basic teaching here is that<br />

no finite being is able to comprehend the totality of the truth of existence of the infinte<br />

cosmic realities. Hence truth and reality are perceived differently from diverse points of<br />

view, and that no single point of view is the complete truth. This is presented with the<br />

parable of the "blind men and an elephant" known as adhgajanyāyah.<br />

Blind Men and the Elephant<br />

Poem by John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887)<br />

It was six men of Indostan to learning much inclined,<br />

Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind),<br />

That each by observation might satisfy his mind<br />

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