Book Title: Microcosmology Atom in Jain Philosophy and Modern Science
Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
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Microcosmology : Atom the formation of aggregates! (skandha), just as positive and negative electric charges of subatomic particles play important role in the formation of atoms and molecules. (iii) Mass or Density (Light, Heavy)
The third pair - light (laghu) and heavy (guru) refers to the physical property of mass or density. According to the Jain concept, this pair is acquired by aştasparśī aggregates only, and therefore, the catuḥsparśī aggregates are devoid of mass. They are agurulaghu i.e. neither heavy, nor light. When compared with the modern particle physics, it can be said that all catuḥsparśī aggregates are in the form of energy and their entire mass is in their motion.
DENSITY AND EXTENSION
A paramāņu being truly indivisible has no extension and will, therefore, logically occupy one space-point. The space occupied by a skandha will depend upon its density. The number of space- points occupied by a skandha of lowest density will be equal to the number of paramānus in the skandha Thus, a diatomic skandha will occupy two space-points, a triatomic skandha three, and so on upto innumerable (asamkhyāta). However, a skandha with infinite number of paramānus will have to be densely packed so as to occupy more than innumerable (asaṁkh yāta) space-points. When more tightly packed, however, a skandha would occupy space-points much less than the number of paramānus constituting it. A skandha with infinite number of paramāņus, if densely packed, may occupy only a single space-point.
And in the extreme case, infinite number of skandhas, each composed of infintely infinite (anantānanta) number of paramānus, may occupy only a single space-point. Such is the property of compressibility of pudgala.
In modern science, density varies from element to element. In each atom, 99.97% of the total mass is concentrated in the 1. We shall discuss this in greater detail while discussing the qualities of
paramāņu
