Journal of Gyansagar Science Foundation 2013 04 01

Author(s): Sanjeev Sogani, Vimal Jain
Publisher: Gyansagar Science Foundation

Page 105

Uniqueness of Concept of 'God' in Jainism - A Comparision of Various Ideologies and Theories of Modern Science
Er. Piyush Jain
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0000000000000000000000000 Abstract As a student of science, and that too from the field of Electronics, I am used to see things in ones and zeros - either it is there or not there. During my early exposure to Jain spiritualism and philosophy, one question about God always haunted me - literally the whole world says, GOD IS! I ask, IS GOD? They say - Hey Bhagwan! I ask - Hai Bhagwan?
Let us start from beginning; do we have a definition of GOD? One will be surprised to know that only Jainism provides for its definition; all other religions, philosophies and beliefs provide description. According to Jainism - "GOD is a soul liberated from the bondages of karmas. That is a soul (atma) which sheds its apparent duality with body (sharir) and attains singularity (siddha)." Jainism, unlike others, comprehensively rejects the idea of any creator, perpetuator or destroyer God and emphasizes on the potential of divinity of each and every soul alike. A soul in Moksha is devoid of rebirth, attachment, aversion, pleasure, pain, misery, sufferings etc. and attains eternal bliss - which is the ultimate divinity.) When I went on to have a reality check on the so-called attributes of GOD as described by various religions, I had a shocking conclusion-reality does not match with the portrayal. For example, the stipulated attribute of HIS compassion falls flat on the all encompassing misery. Belief that He has infinite intelligence as creator, too, does not hold the ground as all his models (living beings or otherwise) are failures as they perennially face death, disease and destruction. My presentation, therefore, focuses on the three aspects - i. Sources of our knowledge about GOD. ii. Attributes of GOD - eternal conflict of faith versus reason. iii. Science and Jainism - do they have meeting ground? Renowned scientist, Stephen Hawking writes in his best-seller 'Brief History of Time', "the sun always rose in the east and set in the west, whether or not a sacrifice had been made to the sun god. God would choose how the universe began and what laws it obeyed, but he would not intervene in the universe once it had started. In effect, God was confined to the areas that nineteenth-century science did not understand." In another book 'Why God Did Not Create the Universe, he writes, "As recent advances in cosmology suggest, the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason that it is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."
• Why is it essential to settle this issue of GOD's existence in the context of present social scenario? • Will it provide us a break-through to overcome our miseries and sufferings?
How uniqueness of Jainism can help bring a paradigm shift - from culture to future? Let us examine
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Introduction
a conclusion or of unearthing the truth. But, strangely,
before putting our entire faith in God, we, in general, They say - God is! I ask - Is God?
do not follow this norm of asking questions and getting Asking questions is the fundamental rule of the game
answers. We, for time immemorial, have not sincerely named knowledge. In democracy, media asks grueling
tried to replace our faith with knowledge. questions from politicians and bureaucrat about their We do not believe that there exists an animal as huge dealing and wheeling. Public, too, asks several questions as Himalaya, we do not believe that humans can have before casting its vote. Customarily, we ask several hundred eyes or limbs, in short, in we not believe in questions before solemnizing marriages, before buying
anything unbelievable. Then, why those who believe in any product, before choosing a doctor to treat us and
God's existence do so? so on and so forth. In short, we normally ask multiple questions, find appropriate answers and then take a
Is it because of majority does so? Is majority view decision. It is, in fact a universal procedure of coming to
guarantee to truth? CEO, Hem Electronic Technologies P. Ltd., S.G. Highway, Gota, Ahmedabad-382481., piyushjm@gmail.com, GSF/BA/11-12/00033P
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