MY TRUTH, YOUR TRUTH There is something uplifting and liberating, and thus germane, about an ancient faith that looks at the world with a complete openness towards its many different 'truths'. At a time in history when every religion, ideology and economic system claims to possess the best, most successful, superior-most truth, the gentle Jina whispers reassuringly: "My truth is fine from my standpoint, and so is yours!" In The Jain Declaration on Nature, presented to HRH Prince Philip of England, eminent scholar and Chancellor of the Jain Vishwa Bharati (Deemed University), Dr L.M. Singhvi explains: "Anekantavad, or the doctrine of manifold aspects, describes the world as a multifaceted, ever-changing reality with an infinity of viewpoints depending on the time, place, nature and state of the one who is the viewer and that which is viewed." About syadvad, he says: "Anekantavad leads to syadvad or relativity, which states that truth is relative to different viewpoints. Absolute truth cannot be grasped from any particular viewpoint alone because it is the sum total of all the different viewpoints that make up the universe. Says DR V.P. Jain, director of the Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology: "Anekantavad says in effect, 'you are right, but I am also right'. Each one of us has a personality that has been created by our circumstances. So we cannot expect everybody to have the same view as us! And so, in a conflict, the anekanta viewpoint helps move towards ahimsa or nonviolence. In the inclusiveness of anekanta lie the seeds of true ahimsa. This translates into a deep reverence for all life, without which there is no anekanta. Intolerance creeps into attitudes with an unwillingness to accept difference. Of beliefs, skin color, race, gender, caste, clothes. An acceptance with open arms of otherness and difference lies at the heart of anekantavad, and it is here that ahimsa, abstinence from violence, really begins.