________________
22. Light : Animate
Or Inanimate?
ramana Bhagavān Mahāvira lived more than 2500 years ago but his dispensation prevails even today. He has pretty well explained in his sermons the nature of the material world that he saw through omniscience and even today the doctrines expounded by Bhagavān Mahāvira is passing the tests of science.
It must be admitted that Jain scriptures have made an incomparable contribution in the field of biology.
According to the Jain philosophical tradition, besides animals and plants, earth, water, fire and wind have life. Today, it is very necessary to prove not only on the basis of logic but practically in scientific ways that there is an element of life in all these. This is an urgent demand of the day and it is our responsibility to satisfy the demand.
Since last few centuries, some wrong beliefs about light have become popular in the Jain society and especially among monks and nuns. These popular beliefs have no strong support of Jain canonical scriptures. Generally there are no lamps in Upāśrayas i.e. places of Jain monks and nuns.The Jain monks and nuns do not use lamps because it is very necessary for them to observe non-violence and according to Jain philosophical belief fire also has life.
Now-a-days there is a custom among Svētāmbara idolatrous Jain monks that whenever one wishes to go through the light of a lamp, one should go, wrapped in a woollen cloth. The reason for this custom is that light is firebodies i.e. it is living being and as soon as it touches our body, it dies. A woollen cloth should, therefore, be wrapped around the body in order to save the living beings of light of electric lamps, candle-sticks from falling on it. The Night of the Sun, the moon, the planets, the constellations and the stars is regarded to be lifeless.
On the other hand, lots of researches are now-a-days done in science and these researches inspire some people to believe that the light of lamps of
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
