________________
Modern Physics and Syadvada 101
not absolute, but is only relative to a suitable meaning for the ambiguous words in it, with the consequence that the converse statement also has validity and is also wisdom". Bohr illustrated this with his statement. "There is a God", a statement of great wisdom and truth, and the converse 'There is no God' also a statement of great wisdom and truth. (For him who believes that there is no God, his God is 'no-God'. The aspects of God are infinite, inexhaustible, inexpressible). This reminds of an oft quoted dialogue between Lord Mahavira and his favourite disciple Gautam. (Nathmal Tatia, Studies in Jaina Philosophy, Jain Cultural Research Society, Banaras, (1951) pp. 22-23.)
"Are the souls, O Lord, eternal or non-eternal ?"
"The Souls, O Gautama, are eternal in some respect and non-eternal in some respect."
"With what end in view, O Lord, is it said that the souls are eternal in some respect and non-eternal in some respect ?"
"They are eternal. O Gautama, from the viewpoint of substance, and noneternal from the view point of modes, and with this end in view it is said, O Gautama, that the souls are eternal in some respect and non-eternal in some respect".
"Is the body, O Lord, identical with the soul or is the body different from it ?"
"The body, O Gautama, is identical with the soul as well as it is different from it".
Atom and Complementarity
Let us, for the time being, limit ourselves to the domain of logicalempirical experience, that is communicable, objective facts, and ask what is the radically new situation we meet with in dealing with atomic phenomena (quantum physics) as distinct from everyday experience (classical physics). When we speak of a 'table or chair', any meaningful statement and its negation cannot both be correct at the same time. If the statement 'the chair is in this room' is correct, then the statement 'the chair is not in this room' is false. Both cannot be true at the same time. But this fundamental principle of logic and commonsense, is, in general, violated in atomic pheno
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
