________________
Discarding the second opinion Mahapragya comments that sound needs matter to originate and propagate, whereas the space is formless and boundless. Therefore, sound, an octon, can never be an attribute or quality of the space which is formless. Space, which itself is considered afloat, accommodates all the six mattereals in it.
2. Scientific History
The view point of western philosophers with regard to the attributes of space had always been divergent from the Jain philosophy. Plato believed that there was nothing like independent or floating space, but it is associated with the physical objects only.
Einstein's general theory of relativity attached time with the space as a fourth dimension. This had made the entire studies of space and directions all the more interesting and challenging. We shall therefore, endeavour to explain the contents of Jain scripture in the light of modern scientific discoveries.
3. Curved Directions
THEORY OF MATTEREALS AND JAIN PHILOSOPHY/79
In Bhagwati Sutra, the directions are said to be curved having a shape resembling a mrudang (an oval shaped or egg-shaped musical instrument). It states that the co-ordinates of space may follow straight lines, but directions are curved as their trajectory is a sum total of seven attributes including the area, quality and contents etc. Scientists today have almost concluded that the excessive gravity results in the curved space-time to accommodate very high density matter in a very small volume of space. Some such examples are -
1.
2.
3.
Jain Education International
Black-holes manifest extremely high gravitation due to their high matter density. So much so that even the light cannot escape from them.
All the stars have a strong gravitational pull that the light rays passing near them get curved.
At the moment of big-bang, space-time was curved to such an extent that infinite mass was contained in literally miniscule volume.
According to the physicist Hawking, when we try to visualise fourdimensional object in three-dimensions, or three-dimensional in two, or twodimensional in one dimension, objects appear to be curved. This has made scientists enthusiastic to find a possibility to device a method in which the hidden curved dimension is revealed which will shrink our distances from
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
