Concept of Paryaya in Jain Philosophy

Author(s): S R Bhatt, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 93

The Concept of Paryaya - Mode 81 know about the universe, and how do we know it ? Where did the universe come from, and where it is going ? Did the universe have a beginning, and if so, what happened before then ? What is the nature of time ? Will it ever come to an end ? Can we go back in time ? (p. 1). And in the last chapter the conclusion', he says - "We find ourselves in a bewildering world. We want to make sense of what we see around us and ask: What is the nature of the universe ? What is our place in it and where did it and we come from? Why is it the way its is ?" (p. 187). 5.2. He has explained various theories about the universe - right from the Greek philosopher Aristotle (340 B.C), Hellenistic (Greek) astronomer, mathematician and geographer Ptolemy (127-151 A.D.), Polish priest Nicholas Copernicus (1514), German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630), Italian astronomer Galileo Galilee (1632), Sir Isaac Newton (1687), German Philosopher Immanual Kant (1781) to the twentieth century celebrities like Albert Einstein and Alexander Friedman. 5.3. He has considered the early Biblical theory of how God created the universe, or an infinite tower of tortoises supporting the flat earth, or Edwin Hubbell's observation (1929) that the universe is expanding (suggesting that there was a time called Big Bang, when the universe was infinitesimally small and dense). According to Prof. Hawkins, "Einstein's general theory of relativity implied that the universe must have a beginning and possibly and end (p. 35). 5.4. He has then explained his heterotic string theory which he considers as one of the complete unified theories that are self-consistent and allow the existence of structures as complicated as human beings who can investigate the laws of universe and ask about the nature of God." (p. 190). 5.5. But it appears that he does not claim this theory to be final and conclusive. For he asks, "Is the unified theory so compelling that it brings about its own existence ? Or does it need a creator, and, if so, does he have any other effect on the universe ? And finally he asks a very pertinent question:"AND WHO CREATED HIM (GOD) ? 5.6. This brings us to the Jaina theory of universe 'LOKA'. Loka is