Jaganmohanlal Pandita Sadhuwad Granth

Author(s): Sudarshanlal Jain
Publisher: Jaganmohanlal Shastri Sadhuwad Samiti Jabalpur

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Relalivism Syadavad
R3
Professor Prabhakar Machwe, in the article "Jainism and Modern Age", has written, "The second contribution of Mahavira to human intellect is the fogic of probability.". Let me touch upon this briefly. If we toss a fair coin, will it land heads up? It is the question of simple probability. Everyone knows that the probability of its landing heads up is one-half. We can also calculate the probability of its turning heads up 40 times in 100 tosses. We can find the probability of getting 5 heads in a row, and so on and so forth. However, we can not be certain of its turning heads up in a given toss, we can not be certain how many heads we will get when we toss the coin 10 times. This illustrates many aspects of relativism. Everyday we have to make decisions which in some ways are like tossing a coin. If we bear relativism in mind, we can have peace of mind regardless of the consequences of our decisions and actions.
Now let us consider the flight of a baseball or football. We can apply the laws of nature to predict the position and momentum of the ball, and our computations will be in perfect agreement with our observations. However, if we apply a similar procedure to study the flight of an electron or a neutron, we will fail miserably, most of the times. We can only compute the probability of detecting the particle at a given position and having a certain momentum. Further, the more accurate the momentum, the less accurate is our estimate of the position of the particle and vice versa. This is known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It is one of the fundamental postulates of wave mechanics or quantum mechanics. It serves as a very powerful tool for modern scientific investigations. Notice the parallel between relativism and modern scientific concepts.
The doctrine of seven aspects is an important contribution of Jain philosophers to the various schools of thought. In some ways, it is parallel to theory of relativity and quantum mechanics of modern science. Now the questions arise : How does relativism relate to our practice of religion? How can it improve life on earth, in general, and our lives in particular ?
Relativism helps us make decisions in a rational manner. Further, it helps us learn to live with our decisions and with the consequences of our mistakes, as mentioned above. It enables us to develop a rational outlook towards life, and, promotes harmony and peace of mind. Thus, it leads to the three jewels (Ratnatraya or Samyaktva) of Jainism.
Practice of Relativism
Let us try a few examples. Let us try to answer some questions from different angles of vision. Remember that according to relativism, there are no right or wrong answers. The answers that seem to be correct and proper from one aspect may prove to be wrong and improper from another viewpoint. Much depends on our resources (Dravya)
3. Tirthankar (English), Nemichand Jain, editor, Volume 1, Number 1, January 1975
pages 8-12. 4. Momentum=mass X velocity.