Jain Darshanna Vaigyanik Rahasyo

Author(s): Nandighoshvijay
Publisher: Bharatiya Prachin Sahitya Vaigyanik Rahasya Shodh Sanstha

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The origin of life on Earth, and in the universe at large, is still not fully understood by scientific invstigations made so far Jainism seems to have a different approach to the problem and is worth further study. In contrast Jain description of geography and human physiology appear rather primitive compared to modern understanding although there may be some elements of human physiology, particularly related to spiritual practices which can from a topic of further research.
A series of chapters deal with topies where again, not much thought has been given in the modern science. These mainly concern the food practices. Whereas the modern science has confined at determining the calorific values and its classification into vitamins, proteins and carbohydrate content, the Jain school of thought has gone deep into subtler properties of various types of foods and deals with its psychic as well as physical effects. This forms the basis of several chapters in this book in which an attempt is made to give some rationale behind the Jain food practices, which is an important part of the Jain religious techniques. Long before existence of microscopic life was shown and plants were considered to be living by modern science, these facts were well establishes in Jain philosophy and formed the foundations of complex practices as a corollary of nonviolence, which the basic tenet of Jainism.
There can be two complementary approaches for finding parallelism between science and religion. Assume science to be correct and find similarities in religious thought or do the other way around. The Muni Shri Nandighoshvijayaji follows the latter approach and some of the discussion should be followed with this perspective. This has resulted in some difficulties. For example, in a chapter related to some conflicting problems between Jainism and modern science, some points have been raised for which there is no scientific rationale. An attempt is also made to propose some scientific solutions. It is clear that there is much confusion in the units of length (Gaus, Dhanusya etc) and time (samaya) used in the Jain scriptures. At least some of the problems can be resolved if the choice of units is correctly made, but it has ultimately to be supported by scientific evidence. Geological records, particularly those dealing with fossils form scientific basis of evolution of life and consciousness on the Earth. There are no fossils in the geological record which will support human beings be
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