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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
This is obviously correct; and it is further easy to see that motion being a characteristic of things in all parts of the universe, its medium should be a substance which fills the entire field of activity. Upto this point Jainism is in full agreement with modern science, its conception of Dharma being purely that of a universal medium of motion-a substance co-extensive with the Loka and devoid of parts and interspaces. But when scientists go further and, in obedience to their monistic aspiration, try to invest their ether with all kinds of attributes, making it out to be even the source of atoms of matter, the Jaina Siddhanta does not endorse their views.
When the confusion which prevails in certain quarters gives way to clarity of thought, it will be recognized that no single substance can perform all the functions which we ascribe to ether at one and the same time. At present, people imagine it to be an all-pervading, non-atomistic medium, circulating internally as a perfect fluid, and possessing a tremendous velocity comparable to that of light. We confess that to us the concept appears to be anything but clear. An infinite substance, very naturally, cannot move externally,' but can it move internally? If there is motion in ether, it can be only motion of parts ; but then ether is nonatomistic (Haeckel.) Thus we have motion of parts of a substance which is, by its very definition, devoid of parts!
It seems to us that the error lies not in the analysis of the functions of things in nature, but in their attribution to one substance. Rather than take up an attitude which throws us into conflict with the laws of clear thought, we ought to recognize that the different
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