Cosmology Old and New

Author(s): G R Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 64

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COSMOLOGY : OLD AND NEW
i.e. adharma, like dharma, is without form, inactive and eternal, (it is the auxiliary cause of rest to soul and matter) as is the shade of a tree the auxiliary cause of rest for the travellers.
ĀKĀŠA We now take up the next dravya äkāsa According to Ācārya Umāswāmi.
आकाशस्यावगाहः । 84 (The function of space is to give place to all other substances; or interpenetrability is the characteristic of akāśa.) Or
जीवपुद्गलादीनामवगाहिनामवकाशदानमवगाह आकाशस्योपकारो afccicat: 185
(That which accommodates souls, matter, time and media of motion and rest is called the Space.)
The author of Dravya-samgraha, Nemichandra Siddäntacakravarti, describes akāśa as follows ,--
84. Tattvarthasutra, 5.18. 85. Sarvarthasiddhi, on Sutra 5.18.
86. According to the Hindų theory of Creation, akasa is the primeval substance from which the other elements arose and therefore, as Dr. Thibaut has pointed out, akaśa must mean some form of subtle matter and not the mathematician's space. For this reason Dr. Thibaut has invariably used the word 'Aether to denote akaśa and according to him this is the only consistent translation. But the Jaina thinkers do not believe in the theory of creation and cnsequently they acknowledged space to be an objective reality-notaet her. In the words of Prof. A. Chakravarty (quoted from the Philosophical Introduction to Pancastikaya-sara) "curiously the nonJaina Indian systems of thought do not pay any prominent attention to the problem of space. In fact the more influential Indian system of philosophy, the Vedanta uses the term akasa indifferently to denote space and aether. It is the latter meaning which is more prominent. It is to the credit of ancient Jaina thinkers that they took a bold attempt to attack the problem and that with very great success. This fact is perhaps due to their great interest in mathematics. An adequate solution of the problem of space and time is intimately connected with Mathematical Philosophy. It is modern mathematics that has successfully reclaimed once again space and time from the destructive dialectic of the idealistic metaphysics. Space is indispensable to Science and Realistic Metaphysics. The wonders of modern science are all associated with the reality of space and what is contained therein. Hence to the Indian Realism' space cannot but be real."