________________
loses the characteristics of life and is no more than a complex aggregate of chemical substances. 6
This is the impression of a physicist about the elusive line of demarcation between life and death. It obviously stresses the fact that life does not emerge from chemical interactions taking place within the body, nor is it sustained by circulation of blood or hear-beat. On the contrary, the circulation, heartbeat, metabolic processes and the very existence of the body itself depends on the fact that 'mind' or 'spirit' is present in it. Let us presume that a man dies in an accident and his heart is removed for transplantation in a needy patient. Now, when he was declared dead. was his heart functioning or not? If it was functioning, what were the criteria to declare the man dead ? If indeed, it had ceased to function at the time of 'death', how does it regain 'life' to start functioning normally in the recipient's body after transplantation ? Again, if nucleic acid was the basis for all vital functions of the body, why do all these vital functions cease with the cessation of heartbeat? It is a commonly observed fact that, on one hand, a fully functioning body full of vitality and verve turns into a corpse on sudden stoppage of heart, while on the other, an extremely emaciated body with extensively damaged organs and ebbing vitality, manages to pull on for quite a while by hanging on to dear life by its very teeth as it were. In such enfeebled body too, the process of metabolism continues, while an otherwise normal body has to be pronounced dead on mere stoppage of heart-beat, why ? With death, how come all organs with their constituent cells begin to decompose simultaneously ? If each cell were to possess its individual vitality, why should all such independently “living' units shut down "en masse" ?
The Miracle of Hatha-Yoga :
If one only keeps an observant eye on the goings-on in the world around without going into scientific research, one's common sense and practical logic enable one to conclude
22
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org