Jainism Eternal and Universal Path for Enlightenment

Author(s): Narendra Bhandari
Publisher: Research Institute of Scientific Secrets from Indian Oriental Scriptures Ahmedabad

Page 113

molecular level or still finer levels are some questions which can now be looked into as the modern techniques develop further. Cloning will resolve or confirm many Jain concepts about the existence of soul, and how it is embodied and the importance of various karma which always remain attached to the soul till it is liberated (chapter 4, 5). Cloning can thus provide a litmus test to the Jain theory of Karma. If a large number of clones are made, they are found to be exactly identical with hardly a few exceptions. How can then, soul selects a body when it is born according to its
yushkarma, n'm karma and gotra karma (Chapter 4). This can be explained in many ways in the light of modern understanding, which would also be consistent with Jain theories of karma, but is a subject requiring research and reinterpretation of Jain concepts. Thus existence of soul with its adhering karmas can be verified, albeit indirectly or by inference, if proper questions and experiments can be formulated.
In the past few decades enormous amount of research has been carried out on the process of birth. Sexual and asexual reproduction, test-tube babies, surrogate mothers, cloning, genome and synthetic DNA are some examples which show that complexity of birth has been understood to a great extent. But the biology has not worried much about death except for considering, though wrongly, that the death is the end of life. The oriental religions like Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism have given much thought to understanding the process of death. Death actually is a prolonged and gradual process and not an instantaneous event as it is made out to be. Death begins with the birth and continues till the rebirth in the next life. The interval between two deaths, what we call life is only an opportunity for attaining enlightenment.
The body of all living species, to the smallest unit, are an aggregate or combination (skandha) of many elements and all these aggregates have to dissociate to their "virgin", unaggregate state and are dissolved at the time of death. It is easy to understand the process if we consider the principal constituents of the human body according to Jainism and Buddhism anatomy. The scriptures mention that the body consists of a dynamic network of subtle channels (n di), winds (prina) and essences (bindu).There are 72000 subtle channels in the body, of which three are the principal channels (the spine starting from Mul dh?r Chakra to Sahasr ir Chakra and one channel on each side of it, i.e. to its right and its left). There are seven chakras (Mul dh'r, Sw+dhisth'n, Manipur, Anhat, Vishuddhi, .gn and Sahasrir) as described in chapter 6 and knots formed by coiling the two principal side channels, containing impure winds with the central (wisdom) channel, the spine. There are 5 root winds for each element, allowing the body to operate and 5 branch winds for the five senses to function. The