Jainism Eternal and Universal Path for Enlightenment

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

Page 87

Jainism : The Eternal and Universal path for Enlightenment
87
and rest respectively. Their equivalents in science are not known. Their existence can possibly explain the origin of "inertia" and can be the cause of first law of motion, according to which a body continues to be in uniform motion or condition of rest (unless acted upon by an external force), since Dharm stik ya will facilitate motion and Adharm stik ya will ensure that a body continues in a state of rest. Matter has form and energy has no form but the contradiction in shloka 5.3 and 5.4 of Tattav?rthsutra can be resolved if matter can have form and is also formless, if we consider the interconvertibility of matter and energy.
Nityavasthit ny arupini ca (5.3) Rupin h pudgalh (5.4)
Could Dharm stik iya and Adharm 1 stik ya be kinds of entities from which various forces emerge? Attempting to find agreement between science and Jainism, we may speculate that the three known forces (gravitation, electroweak and strong nuclear) can possibly originate from two entities, one a source of motion and the other resisting motion to fit the description of Dharm - stik iya and Adharm 1 stikya. Since much effort is being made by scientists to unify all the forces in one, this speculation can be a subject of further investigation.
Jainism divides matter into six categories from gross to subtle. The examples given are Earth, water, light and shadow, smell and taste, Karm?nu, and Parm 'nu respectively. There is some conflict in the order of subtleness in this sequence in view of our scientific understanding but we may agree with the end members of this sequence from grossest Earth to the subtlest Parm 'nu.
There are areas of geography (Jambu dweep etc, Chapter 2 of Tattvirthsøtra) and astronomy (Sun, Moon, Universe etc, Surya and Chandra Prajnapti and chapter 3 of Tatty ?rthsutra) which have major disagreements with our current understanding. The observations, as far as geography of the earth and astronomy of solar system and Milky Way etc are concerned, are firmly based on remote sensing and telescopic observations. There is no scope of modifying them and therefore the discrepancies existing in scriptures need to be corrected. Some of these aspects are mentioned in Appendix 1.
Having considered the physical universe from the view point of modern physics as well as Jainism, we now turn to jiva. Whether these laws applicable to subatomic particles are applicable to soul, which is infinitely small and fine is not clear. We consider