Epitome of Jainism

SR No.: 006737
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: K B Jindal
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi
Publication Year: 1988
Total Pages: 248
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 13 MB

Page 239

Cosmology
227
before the advent of Prof. Einstein's theory of Relativity* the Ptolemaic view was regarded as absurd and absolutely foolish. Now it has been proclaimed that the conception of motion of the earth round the sun is only a matte, of convenience, rather a matter of mathematical convenience.
Denton expressed a similar view in Relativity and Commonsense:
"The relative motion of the members of the solar-system may be 'explained' on the older geo-centric mode and on the other introduced by Copernicus. Both are legitimate and give a correct description of the motion but the Copernican is far the simpler. Around a fixed earth the sun and moon describe almost circular paths but the paths of sun's planets and of their satellites are complex curly lines difficult for the mind to grasp and awkward to deal with in calculation while around a fixed sun the more important paths are almost circular".
Again we notice that the assumption of a fixed earth and the moving sun increases the modern mathematician's difficulties; the calculations become awkward to deal with and hence the Copernican view is preferred, not that the older view is incorrect. It is well to remember in this connection the words of Dr. Schubring, of Hamburg University (Germany), which he spoke on the 30th of January 1928 during the course of a lecture delivered at Delhi:
"He who has a thorough knowledge of the structure of the world cannot but admire the inward logic and harmony of Jain ideas. Hand in hand with the refined cosmographical ideas goes a high standard of astronomy and mathematics. A history of Indian astronomy is not conceivable without the famous Surya Prajñapti."
What conclusion can be drawn from the brief considerations given above. The answer in the words of Leopold Infeld is "that all theories in physics. like human life, have their beginning and their end. In the twentieth century. with its enormous and intensive developments in science, they enjoy for a
* Einstein's general theory of Relativity was published in 1915. One interesting story is told about the explanation of relativity.
Mrs. Einstein did not understand her husband's theories. One day she asked, "What shall I say is Relativity ?" The thinker replied with an unexpected parable, "When a man talks to a pretty girl for an hour it seems to him only a minute, but let him sit on a hot stove for only a minute and it is longer than an hour. That is Relativity."
However it is not as simple as that. The theory has brought revolutionary changes in the fundamental concepts of mass, length, time and space; it has supplied a key to the better understanding of the mysteries of the Universe. The size, the mass and the shape of the Universe have been ascertained with the aid of this theory. Here are some of the results : The mass of the Universe=
21430000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
gms. (931 gms. = 1 Indian
seer).
The radius of the Universe=
1010000000000000000000000000 cms. or 1,068 million light-years. Light-year is the distance in miles which would be covered by a ray of light in one year at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. This number represents the velocity of light. One light-year --5865696000000 miles.
The number of electrons in the Universe
1290000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000 (total number of digits is 80)
(Electron is the tiniest particle of matter discovered by modern science).