आध्यात्मिकमहत्व श्री महावीर्जयन्त्याः (ādhyātmikamahatva śrī mahāvīrjayantyāḥ - spiritual significance of Sri Mahavir Jayanti)

 

Happy Mahavir Jayanti to all.
On श्री वर्धमान् महावीर् जयन्ती (śrī vardhamān mahāvīr jayantī) - the महा अव्तार (mahā avtāra - Grand Incarnation) day of the great saint Lord श्री वर्धमान् महावीर् (śrī vardhamān mahāvīr), the  चतुर्विम्शतितं तीर्थंकर (tīrthaṃkara) - twenty fourth Perfected Soul)  let us pay our humble homages to this noble soul and his mission
He is definitely one of greatest saints who walked on earth.... As the last of the जीन तीर्थंकर (jīna tīrthaṁkara - Divinely Perfected Souls), He played an unparalleled role in spreading message of Jainism.  Jainism is one of the oldest religions of world, hailing from the sacred soils of Indian sub-continent, spreading the noble values of अहिंसा (ahiṁsā – non-violence).  
Wow! What a noble doctrine!  Jains are considered to be one of the pioneers in formally its doctrines as a fundamental part of its core religious धर्म (dharma - duties).  Many religions later adopted the same.   Even Mahatma Gandhi and his unparalleled non-violent retaliation against British colonization of Mother India, was greatly influenced by this philosophy.     
Next greatest contribution in my opinion is the twin doctrines of अनेक अन्त वाद (aneka anta vāda – doctrine of multiple endpoints) & स्याद् वाद (syād vāda – doctrine of relative postulates) to mankind. Etymologically, the term is a combination of अनेक (aneka) - multiple),अन्त (anta - final)  and वाद (vāda - doctrine).  Thus, the doctrine reiterates that varieties of spiritual conclusions are equally probably, true and valid. In fact, according to this school, from an epistemological perspective, each of these दरशन (darśana -philosophy) is a kind of स्याद (syād –predication or probability event) that one may or may not experience as part of their spiritual journey. The term स्याद् (syād) literally means “may be” or “perhaps”.  
Moreover, every such experience is only a नय (naya – relative aspect) of truth or a specific viewpoint of reality which can be interpreted under the following scenarios as postulated by the revered Jain monk आचार्य बद्रबहुर (ācārya badrabahur), in his conceptual framework called सप्तभन्गिनय (saptabhanginaya – seven dimensional aspects) 

• स्याद् अस्ति (syād asti – May be it is)
• स्याद् नास्ति (syād nāsti – May be it is not)
• स्याद् अस्ति नास्ति (syād asti nāsti – May be it is  and it is not)
• स्याद् अस्ति अवक्तव्यः (syād asti avaktavyaḥ - May be it is but not determinable)
• स्याद् अवक्तव्यः (syād avaktavyaḥ - May be it is not determinable)
• स्याद् नास्ति अवक्तव्यः (syād nāsti avaktavyaḥ -  May be it is not and not determinable)
• स्याद् अस्ति नास्ति अवक्तव्यः (syād asti nāsti avaktavyaḥ - May be it is, it is not,  and is indeterminate)

I would like to refer here the following verses of the आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द (ācārya kundakunda) concisely explaining the whole concept of अनेकान्त वाद (anekāntavāda) in a nutshell.  

द्रव्यार्थिकेन सर्वम् ध्रव्यम् तत् पर्व्यायातिह्केन पुनः।

भवति चान्यद्  अन्यत् तत्काले तन् मयात्वत्॥

स्याद् अस्ति नास्ति उभयम् अव्यक्तव्यम् पुनश् च तत् त्रितयम्।

द्रव्यम् खलु सप्त बन्घम् आधेशवाशेन सम्भवति॥

(dravyārthikena sarvam dhravyam tat parvyāyātihkena punaḥ|

bhavati cānyad  anyat tatkāle tan mayātvat||

syād asti nāsti ubhayam avyaktavyam punaś ca tat tritayam|

dravyam khalu sapta bangham ādheśavāśena sambhavati||)

(All objects are fundamentally the same in the absolute but are different from the relative viewpoints influenced by the individual observer’s mindset. Each of these relative interpretations can be classified under the following seven probability events – may be it is, may be not, may be both (is and is not), may be indefinable (as is or is not) , may be it is but yet indefinable, may be indefinable because it is not, may be both and yet indefinable.)

- प्रवचन सार (pravacana sāra)