Book Title: Microcosmology Atom in Jain Philosophy and Modern Science
Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
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A Critique
133 technology made tremendous progress, and the Industrial Revolution fundamentally changed the life-style in both good and bad ways. Beyond technology, it extended to the realm of thought and culture. Research, in subatomic field, revealed serious limitations of Newtonian Physics and necessitated revision of some fundamental concepts. Not only the concept of matter radically changed, but the world-view underwent radical transformation also. The most unsuspected result was to reveal surprising parallels to the religious philosophies of the Far East and India. Some of the eminent Physicists during their tours to Far Eastern countries notice closed relationship between the ancient and traditional philosophical ideas and the philosophical substance of Quantum Theory'
In India, the ancient Jain, Buddhist and other savants engaged themselves in what may appear to Westerners, conjectures and speculations about the origin of matter and material universe based on their spiritual insights. One would search in vain for the use or description of scientific apparatuses in the Jain canonical literature because these were not developed at that time. What then was the source of their knowledge and spiritual insight ? It appears that the capacity of profound thinking (resulting from severe austerities), uninterrupted concentration of thought and meditation enabled the ancient sages to acquire transcendental and extra-sensory perceptive powers. The practice of meditation - DHYANA – was accorded a very high priority in their daily routine and deep concentration became an easy and effortless achievement.
In meditation, direct insights into the true nature of things extend to long periods and result in a constant non-conceptual awareness of Truth and Reality. Meditation inactivates the thinking mind and shifts the awareness from the rational to the intuitive mode of consciousness. Concentrated perception of a single item (i.g., one's own breathing) silences the conceptual activity of the mind, which is emptied of all thoughts. Constant practice of such meditation results in the ability of eliciting direct answers to the enquiries into the Nature of the universe.
1. W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 202.
