Beyond The Hindu Frontier. Jaina-Vaiṣṇava Syncretism In The Gujarātī Diaspora (part II)
(continued from part1)
The Akram Vijñān Mārg presents itself as the very opposite of organised religion. It is, in the words of A. M. Paṭel, not a cult but a method to directly experience the ultimate truth. Anyone, whether Hindu, Jain, Muslim or Christian, is therefore invited to follow the stepless path and to realise that all living beings are essentially pure souls:
All religions of the world are correct by their own view point. But the religion which investigates, 'Who am I?' and 'Who is the doer?' is the final path. The absolute religion is the one that gives us the one and final understanding of 'Who is the knower and the seer?'".111
The acceptance of the doctrines of all religions as partially but not absolutely true is informed, on the one hand, by the Jain distinction between the practical point of view (vyavahāra naya) and the transcendental point of view (niścaya naya) and, on the other hand, by the Jain doctrine of qualified assertion (syādvāda) which is predicated on the belief in the omniscience of the Jaina tīrthaṅkaras and of permanently self-realised beings such as the Dādā, who alone are able to see the absolute truth, while unenlightened beings or members of organised religions such as Jainism have to remain satisfied with the manifest plurality of partial truths:112
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