Dr. Samani Shashi Pragya
Nature is a good example of the tripadī. We live in nature and enjoy natural scenes and utilize the existing objects of the nature. Nature is constituted of living and non-living, non-corporeal and corporeal, fine and gross are characterized by the three aspects of Reality, viz. origination, cessation and permanence. So Reality is the substratum of all these three potent factors.[1] The river upholds the nature of Reality. Every moment fresh water is entering in it and earlier water is converted into the clouds, still we call the same river Gangā, Brahmaputra etc. Moreover each and every wave seldom originates and is destroyed; still sustenance of waves is seen clearly. Let me give the example of plants and trees. The tree originates from seeds and by their very nature produces fruits and flowers and the tree extincts as per its own life span duration, still the nature of giving fruits and flowers of trees never ceases.
Suppose if we deny change in the nature of reality, which has remained a debatable issue for the scholars of past and present age too. In our day-to-day life, we observe that change is the part and parcel of every object. Denial of change means denial of infinite possibilities. Denial of origination and cessation can give raise to many questions, which can't be answerable by anyone.[2] Take for an instance, if we consider nothing will destroy in the world, which is contradictory to our regular experience. Seeds will remain as seeds it will never sprout, milk will remain as milk, it will not convert into curd or butter, living beings will remain in the same realm instead of transmigration etc. The entire theory of Jain karma will come to an end. No new production of all kinds of food-grains, different qualities of cloths will take place. There will be no amendments in armaments, business, technological advancements and no ups and downs in the rates of products in market, no change in the intake of food items, no change in the fashion of writing in Magazines, Newspapers and other new publications, no change in the fashion of dresses and hair style, life style, no change in the behavior and conduct of men and women, no change in law, no change in the syllabus of education, no change in government rules, and so forth. Thus unending life-oriented questions would arise which can't be answered in the absence of the acceptance of concept of change-cum-permanence. Moreover if we don’t accept something permanent in midst of continuous change then following inconsistency in day–to-day life can occur. For instance, the production of honey goes on, in between many honey bees take birth and die, side by side, still production does not stop, it continues. Poems written on nature by writers like William Wordsworth, Rabindranath Tagore are were no more, new poets are emerging with the modern style of composing poems, still the tradition of poetry writing goes on and on. The literature work written by various writers in ancient period and in modern period is radically different. This can be located by reading original texts and today’s writings and novels. The methodology of writing prose, poetry, articles, dramas, stories etc. is same, but the fashion of writing has been changed drastically. Thus change is experienced in all walks of life. The change is not only occurring in the external world of affairs but actually occurring within the individual and the change in individual reflects in the society. Anekāntic perspective is nothing but a perspective dedicated to the search of truth. Without understanding the concept of anekānta, and the world of modes as infinite, one cannot realize the permanent-cum-change nature of Reality. The entire human efforts, hard work, all-round progress, all imaginations and plans are actualised due to the acceptance of infinite possibilities inherited within the nature of Reality and that is exactly not possible without applying the anekāntic perspective.
