Book Title: Jainism by Vividus
Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

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Page 203
________________ microcsm and macrosm as different from the previous enabling-movement-force like one time ether in science. Without these two forces, the universe will be chaos and not cosmos, in one of his letters to Mr. Bentley, the discoverer of gravitation, Sir Issac Newton is stated to have admitted that he did not quite understand gravitation. He said, "What the cause of gravitation is, I do not pretend to know. Gravity must be caused by some agent acting constantly according to certain laws but this agent be material or non-material." Not like Jainism, however, Newton did not name this force as only non-material. He could not make up his mind. It is now in New Science that Einstein on account of his theory of relativity has rendered gravitation quite inactive perhaps bringing it on the same level as 'Adharma' of Jainism which is only passive though non-material. Further, both these forces of 'Dharma' and 'Adharma', according to Jainism are placed in the universe not like pots inside a room but they permeate the whole of it as does oil inside the oilseeds, interpenetrating each other like the electrostatic, magnostatic and gravitational fields which although they are of different character do not mix, each preserves its individuality regardless of the other. Both motion and rest are possible therefore though these two forces which are continuous and non-material are uniformly distributed in the universe and have equal potency. The fourth Ajiva is 'Akasha' i.e. space which is the container of all reals. It is boundless and infinite and in this sense of infinity are none of the five other reals viz Jiva, Pudgala, Dharma. Adharma and Kala (time). The portion of Space inhabited by the reals is 'Loka' which is finite like other reals and is surrounded by 'Aloka' or inert, empty space, a boundless void in all directions. Actually the Space is one indivisible entity and the ether, gravitation, electromagnetism etc., determine the boundaries of Loka and Aloka by their own finiteness. As regards its other qualities, it is conceived as non-living, permanent, fixed, single, noncorporeal, immovable and penetrable substance, 87

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