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$1$$$45 4641414141414141414141414141414141414141414141455 456 457 455 456 457 4540 in this Agam closely resemble the scientific facts. Besides these the elaborate details mentioned in this Agam about the multitude of diversities manifested through the interplay of soul and matter is not available in any other philosophical or religious work, Indian or foreign
Many modern educated individuals do not hesitate to brand the said descriptions of heaven and hell as flights of fantasy. They maintain-- "More than half of Bhagavati Sutra is filled with the descriptions of heavens and hells. What is the importance or use of such information in everyday life ?"
All-seeing and all-knowing Bhagavan Mahavir and later Jain philosophers gave special importance to heaven and hell for a special veiled purpose. And it is that if we accept soul as immortal and eternal entity, we also have to accept the concept of heaven and hell in order to comprehend its form as independent vibrant life-force, its tangible form manifested through combination with matter and its qualitative progress and regress. All the concepts and principles of Atma-vaad (theory of soul), Karma-vaad (theory of karma), Lok-vaad (theory of universe), Kriya-vaad (theory of endeavour) and Mukti-vaad (theory of liberation) will lose their significance and utility if the descriptions of heaven and hell are deleted. As regards the scientific attitude, we should not forget that science is the path of continuous search and development of knowledge. Contemplation, research, invention, mathematics, imagination and the like are some of 4 the tools to pursue that. What was said to be fantasy yesterday has become fact today. What we take to be fantasy today may be pregnant si with facts of tomorrow. According to the Agamic concept heaven and hell are parts of the upper and lower worlds as our earth is a part of the transverse world. A soul endowed with extremes of merit and demerit has no alternative but to be born in heaven or hell in order to enjoy or suffer the fruits of the acquired karmas. How could an all-seeing and allknowing individual avoid describing the part of this universe that forms the whole arena of the play of souls ?
Unlike other Jain Agams, Bhagavati Sutra is neither a sermonic work nor exclusively doctrinal. We may call it an analytical work. In other words it may be called the mathematics of doctrines. Einstein's famous theory of relativity is, indeed, a miracle of mathematics. Mathematics is an essential component of all inventions in the world. For this reason alone mathematical theories have been profoundly and minutely elaborated in Bhagavati Sutra. Without a working knowledge i of Karmagranths and fundamentals one will find it extremely difficult to fathom the metaphysical subjects propounded in Bhagavati Sutra.
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