NON-ABSOLUTISM
Anekanta Vada
Some body asked a Jain Seer, " Which religion is true? Which path should I follow?"
Seer replied," Have you seen cows?"
He said, " Yes, I have"
Seer asked," What are the different colours of the cows which you have seen?"
He answered," They are of many colours- white, brown, yellow, spotted, black, etc."
Seer further asked," Are they giving different colours of milk or the same?"
He thought seer must have gone mad. He annoyingly replied," What rubbish !!! Cows give only one colour of milk -white, whatever may be the colour of their skin. It doesn't matter. "
Seer smiled. And said," Then you must have known, from this analogy, that religions may have different names, but the essence is same."
This is the principle of anekant vada or non-absolutism or "truth-depends-on-stand-points" philosophy. I will elucidate it further.
Bring the picture of your family into your mind. A person is a father, is a son, is a husband, is a brother, is a uncle, etc. His wife is 100% correct in saying that Mr. X is my husband. His mother is also 100% correct in saying that Mr. X is my son. Both of them are correct when seen from their point of view. But they are not absolute. They are stating the relationship of Mr. X with respect to (w.r.t.) to thenselves. This is an-ekant i.e. absence of absolutism.
We must have studied the coordinate system in our school mathematics. A point is defined as (x,y,z). Einstein further added fourth dimesnion 't' for time. Thus, a point in space becomes (x,y,z,t). If a point A is (2,5,7) then his position is 2 w.r.t. x, 5 wrt y & 7 wrt z. All three propositions are correct but they dont give complete position of A. When all of them are put together we get A.
Thats what Mahavira explained 2500 years ago. He said that Truth is not absolute, it is relative. It was a revolutionary statement. It contained in itself the seeds of conflict resolution. Albert Eintein put this into the "Theory of Relativity".
The topic of anekanant would take more than one articles and I am sure you will read all of them and grasp the depth of teachings of one of the greatest religious figures of this world.
Keep reading !!!!!!
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