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The Jaina world of Non-living
(e) Some contend that there is no space as a real entity because (i) it is unborn, (ii) it is only a non-enclosure or coverlessness, (iii) it is a denatured form of Sankhya Nature and (iv) it is an aspect of Brahma for Vedantin.
These points have been logically and observationally refuted on many counts.
(f)
It is proved that space is an independent reality and that sound is an attribute of mattergy rather than space.
2. The existence of space can be inferred from the following
inference:
There is an all-pervasive reality to accommodate all the realities simultaneously because there is no possibility otherwise of simultaneous all-inclusive accommodation. Its negative illustration is any material entity. Attributing this capacity to non-pervasive material entities like light and darkness will ultimately end in infinite regression.
3.
Generally, the term 'Akāsa' is translated as space. But many authors differentiate the two terms. Some say space is the property of 'ākāśa' which has been conventionally made a synonym for it. It may be either mental construct or a separate reality.
4.
Sankhya, Nyaya-Vaiseṣika School and other systems agree to the space as a reality but with different differentia in comparison to the Jainas. It seems to be a metaphysical philosophical idealism. Vedas mention space as a precursor of other elements leading it to a form of subtle fine matter. There is a causal space and there is a non-causal or effect space and there is infra-atomic space. Moreover, it is the transformation product of the Nature of Sankhyas. The monistic Mīmānsakas also call it a produced entity from Brahma.
5. The idealist philosophers postulated impossibility of space as a reality and assumed it as a mental construct which is now said to be a convenient fiction. However, the mathematicians established 'axioms of infinity' and their realistic theorems which are supporting reality of space. The Jaina theory of space seems to be in tune with Newtonian concept of absolute space with all the Jainian properties ascribed to it following generally a Euclidean geometry. Of course, there could be a relative
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