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Syādväda and the Modern Scientific Theory of Relativity 355
clear even to the great scientists. Its complexity is clear by the example given in the book Cosmology old and New. “If two people meet twice they must have lived the same time between the two meetings. This is true from one point of view and not from another. It all depends whether both of them have been staying at home or one has travelled to a distant part of the Universe and then came back in the interim."'3
If a man standing on the sea shore no doubt in comparison to the man in the ship he is not moving but as due to movement of the ship, the man on the ship is moving so is the man on the sea shore is also moving in relation to the sun due to the movement of the earth round the sun on which he is standing. In the same way all the movements are relative. This very thought is in both Jain philosophy (Syādvāda) and Einstein's theory of Relativity. According to both every thing is relative. A man standing, is not moving in respect to the man walking but the standing man is also moving with the movement of the earth. The motion and rest are the relative terms. There is nothing like a absolute Motion or absolute Rest. Sun in respect to earth is not moving but in respect to other stars it is moving and so on as there are infinite number of solar systems. Thus we see that all things are only relative in motion and rest. Einstein beautifully said, “Nature is such that it is impossible to determine absolute motion by any experiment whatever."'4 In Cosmology old and New we find an example explaining beautifully the Motion and Rest. It is said, “Suppose this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever increasing velocity, falling freely like a stone. Suppose I am inside that lift and I perform the experiment of dropping an apple held in my hand. Remember that the lift and all things contained in it are falling freely all the while. To my surprise I shall see that the apple cannot fall any more than it is already doing, owing to the free fall of lift. The apple remains poised in my hand."'S In the same way concept of time may also be explained as “Two revolving galaxies (a and b) which are at a distance of thousands of light years, exploded and out of them two new stars were created. The spectators sitting in each galaxy will feel that these events are immediate but there being a distance of thousands of light years, between the two, the spectator in 'a' will call the event in bas
3. Cosmoloty Old and New. p. 206. 4. Mysterious Universe, p. 78. 5. Cosmology Old and New, p. 40.
| SR No. | 002012 |
| Book Title | Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra |
| Publisher | Jain Vishva Bharati |
| Publication Year | 1996 |
| Total Pages | 400 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Philosophy, Religion, & Nyay |
| File Size | 23 MB |