Jain Studies and Science

SR No.: 006923
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Mahaveer Raj Gelada
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 2007
Total Pages: 272
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

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20/JAIN STUDIES AND SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION
In the later half of the twentieth century a clear shift is visible in the orientation on the writings of Jain philosophy. The concepts of Jain philosophy were once compared at length with other contemporary Indian philosophies i.e. Vedanta, Sankhya, Buddhism etc., now they are compared with the theories and results of modern science. Jain philosophers, in the initial period of writing, used to compare their concept on Non-absolutism with Vedanta's Monism and Sankhya's Dualism. The comparisons were also drawn with the concept of permanence' of Vedanta and the concept of 'impermanence' of Buddhism vis-à-vis permanence-cumtransience of Jainism. This custom has primarily ended now. Ever since the advent of Einstein's theory of Relativity and Heisenberg's theory of Uncertainty, Jain philosophy has found trusted friends in them. Clear parallels can now be drawn between Einstein's theory of relativity and the Principle of Anekant (Nonabsolutism) of Jain philosophy. The scientific studies on relativity, structure of atom, psychology and modern discoveries of cosmology have provided help to explain and reinforce many facts of Jain studies. Foremost Writer
In the contemporary writing style on Jain studies, the partial use of science has started. The credit for adopting this changed style of writing goes to Mahapragya. In the present era, he has established himself as the foremost writer of this new genre of scripting. It reflected not only his generous and flexible perception, but also manifested his deep curiosity to arrive at the truth. His slogan as an Anekant Drastra (visionary) is: 'What is truth is mine' and not 'what is mine is the truth'. According to Mahapragya's point of view, the principles of Relativity and Postulates of Anekant are the only effective and modern techniques to understand and unearth the facts of nature and universe.
Mahapragya has created literature by amalgamating science with spiritualism. For this reason, his literature gained recognition and popularity with the passage of time. Convergence of Science and Spiritualism 1) We are aware that in science, various subjects are categorised on the
basis of different physical properties of the matter; the spiritual subjects are categorised on the basis of abstract qualities of the mattereals (dravyas). Mahapragya found that science and spiritualism are two different streams investigating the truth, but they are not against each
other. In fact, the two are inseparable. 2) In the scientific world, the forms of substance are divided into two
parts: i.e. cosmic (sthula) & microcosmic (sukshma). According to the scientist Heisenberg, the rules of micro matter are different from those