Cosmology Old and New

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

Page 85

STRA 3.
53
Hence, utpăda, vyaya, dhrouvya as characteristics of a substance is established on modern evidence.
***
SUTRA 3.
ATT 11311
JĪVĀŚCA [3] (Souls are also included in the category of substances.)
As pointed out on pages 48-49 the Svetāmbaras and Digambaras both agree in regarding soul as a substance. One more evidence from a Svetambara-sūtra is given below :
" faktur Ha! foam YUUTFIT? Trat! saet quurFT, ......
Tutacoat o sputacoal U 1"128 The existence of soul can be proved on various grounds. The faculty of knowing and perceiving, the sensations of pleasure and pain cannot inhere in nothing, nor can volition be the function of pure non-entity. All these must be regarded as states of something which exists and it is this 'something which we call'soul substance'. Physical researches of eminent scientists, like Sir Oliver Lodge, have proved the existence of souls. It should be noted, however, that the investigations of Experimental Science say nothing, either this way or that way, about the existence of soul, the reason being that non-material substances cannot be subjected to experiment and hence do not come within its province.
In Exploring the Universe the following words occur :
"Science is now, and must increasingly become, a limited field of endeavour. Its materials are only those forces which can be measured and predicted with precision by all experiments alike. If there exists in man a free will, a conscience, a power of self-sacrifice, a social mind or a consciousness of kind, these forces are beyond the pale of science... The science of tomorrow, therefore, cannot include any such forces as we commonly conceive at present when we use the words, mind or soul or will or purpose."
128. Anuyogadvara-sutra, 441. 129. Exploring The Universe by Henshaw Ward, p. 230.